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Archive for the ‘triple tail’ Category

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 20-27, 2014

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Kris Honkola from San Rafael CA was a first-time visitor with Tailhunter and set out to get a wahoo with us. On his very first day he tagged up this big-headed speedster south of Cerralvo Island.

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Cathy Corda, here with husband Craig, had a pretty fantastic day. Not only did they get into the dorado school big-time, but Cathy got her first wahoo. What makes it more remarkable is that the fish bent out the hook and when they got it aboard…THE FISH WAS NOT HOOKED! The line made a half-hitch loop around the tail and had lassoed the fish! Great story!

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Our long-time amigos from the San Francisco Bay area, Bill Lee and John McLucas had a week’s-worth of good fishing with our Las Arenas fleet. Here’s a sample of dorado, cabrilla and a rainbow runner.

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It was a pretty good week for billfish…marlin and sailfish with a remarkable number of hookups! Most caught fish were released. Alexa Kadota took these spectacular photos right close to shore as her dad’s sailfish fought close to the panga.

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Our new amiga from Utah, Janie Edge and her husband, Randy were fishing with Captain Victor and did pretty good on some schoolie dorado.

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Nothing like a vacation with dad and getting pulled outta school! John Rogers from San Ramon, CA, took his boys, Jared and Jay out for a few days fishing with us and show off some of their dorado they caught north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

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Oregon in the house as Captain Armando poses with Dave Lindell and Leonard Post on the beach at Las Arenas with some of their mahi catch. Our amigos come from the Pendleton, Oregon area.

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These two brothers had to be some of the funniest guys all week…Andy and Rafi Montejano pose with a big pargo and cabrilla which we saw more of this week as the weather and conditions change.

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You can tell waters are getting a little cooler because we don’t normally get pompano except in the springtime. However, our amigo John Ehlers from the Denver CO area, got this tasty pompano just off Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Pancho.

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Captain Archangel looks on as Dr. Dennis Harper has his hands full of dorado and a trophy barred pargo that will make for some great eating. They are on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Great shot, big smile and great pose on a bull dorado with Bill Lee from the San Francisco Bay area.

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Captain Joel with Tina Harper who was fishing this week with us for the first time and did well on the dorado. She caught this fish near Espirito Santo Island in the channel.

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The pro…Danny Kadota…with another pro, our Captain Victor and the results…a big big wahoo. One of several that Danny caught.

 

SEASONS CHANGING AND GETTNG COOLER BRINGING DIFFERENT FISH VARIETY:

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 20-27, 2014

We could not be asking for better conditions right now these last two weeks or so.  Air temperatures have dropped significantly down to the low to mid-90’s.  The humidity is gone so it’s just great sunshine.  Water temps are still in the mid-80’s.  And, although winds seem to be gradually increasing, there’s just a hint of perfect breeze each day.  Barely a cloud in the sky.  Nights are ideal and in the 70’s.   If you’re walking around La Paz, it’s like being in a post card.

Basically, I think it means conditions are changing.  They’re moving from the warmer summer days now tapering into our late fall bite.

Fishing has been OK to good for the most part.   Not spectacular, but there were some nice highlights.  I think we’re in transition now for the seasons.  However,   for most anglers fishing a few days, everyone is getting fish.  There’s some nice highlights and bonus, and some days when the dorado go crazy but then there’s others when the bite drops off and gets a little more picky.  Like I said, things are transitioning.

Dorado are still our mainstay with fish in the 10-20 pound class mostly.  Some larger.  Quite  few smaller.  Great fun on light tackle.  Most of the larger fish have been lost, but we have seen some in the 40 pound category come and go…and keep going!  But, dorado make up about 70% of our bite.  But the fish seem more scattered and wide-ranging.  There are still some concentrated schools, but they seem to be breaking up and moving quite a bit.  One day we find the spots and other days it’s hunt-and-peck.   It changes almost daily.

However, that’s been rounded out with a pretty nice bite on billfish.  Striped marlin are around as well as blue and black marlin.  But, the big surprise have been the number of sailfish around.  We had some days when there were multiple hook-ups on our pangas.  One day one of our pangas hooked 4 and were able to release 3.  Another released 2.  Several others released 1’s and 2’s and numerous other billfish have been seen feeding on bait or in the middle of the bonito and dorado schools. We had two large blue marlin hooked and dropped during the week.

The variety this time of year has been increasing as well.  In addition to the billfish and dorado, wahoo keep popping up near Espirito Santo Island and inshore, we’re getting more pargo, cabrilla, red snapper, and even some sierra which is a sure indication that waters are cooling a bit.  Additionally, we’re getting rainbow runners, lots of bonito, jack crevalle and still finding some school-sized rooster fish along the beaches.  Not alot of big fish, but …  Lots of great action!

HURRICANE DONATIONS KEEP COMING IN!

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Roy Zimmerman and Barron Lowery with a double-table full of supplies!

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The Ehlers family from Colorado

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Jon Luker, Jill Luker, and daughter Katylyn with Mike and Colleen Davis

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Jane and Randy Edge from Utah with some strange-looking guy who had been cleaning fish and pulled into the picture!

We just can’t say enough about so many of our Tailhunter Family of amigos who filled in the extra luggage space and brought down so many things needed by those who lost during the huge hurricane about a month ago.  Jill is spearheading the drive and collected several HUNDRED pounds of goods each week.  Above are JUST SOME OF THE PHOTOS of our friends with the big hearts.  I’ll keep posting them as space allows.   But, you can see what’s coming in…clothes, shoes..toiletries…school supplies..first aid items…

Thank you everyone!  Jill is having the items sent to several different charities and communities in town depending on the needs and these things are going DIRECT to those who need them, not to any agency.  So YOUR donations are getting put directly into the hands of those who need them!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 12-19, 2014

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Wahoo like these were the highlight of a somewhat erratic week of fishing that saw some great action, but also some slow fishing during the middle of the week. However, the appearance of these speedy trophy fish were a big plus around the south end of Cerralvo Island.

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Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara make several trips a year to La Paz and had a good day to start with this big-headed wahoo while they pose on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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John Rogers from San Ramon CA has fished with us before, but says his boys, Jay and Jared are now “hooked” and “can’t wait to come back!” after three days of fishing like this including dorado, cabrilla, pargo, bonito and their first marlin.

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Captain Blas helps out our Washington amigo, Nash Johnson, with a nice sailfish that he battled on light tackle for 45 minutes north of La Paz. The fish was released. They also got dorado as well.

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Great pose from Alexa Kadota with one of several dorado she caught while fishing with dad with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

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Big bull in the boat for our Idaho amigo, Steve Snead, who put this bull dorado in the panga while fishing with Captain Joel ear Espirito Santo Island.

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Mike Vonderahe and Mark Chism had to almost canceled their trip after Hurricane Odile, but were able to make it down from Oregon and started their fishing days off with some decent dorado fishing like these! They also got in some scuba diving later in the week with whale sharks!

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Bob Layko from Vancouver WA loves to come down each year to celebrate his birthday with his cousin, Craig Brown. Captain Pancho poses with Bob and Craig on the sand to show off quite a variety of fish including dorado, palometas, pargo and a cabrilla.

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Big smiles for a big cabrilla caught by Niels Michaelsen who came all the way from Finland! Captain Boli jumps into the picture as well. The big fish was taken near Espirito Santo Island.

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Just to show off some of the variety this week, Erick and Nash Johnson showed up with some pargo mulatto (barred pargo) and red snapper. Dad and son are from Washington.

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Not a bad day for fishing for Alexa Kadota. A nice dorado AND a nice wahoo in both hands!

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Great shot from our amigo from Denmark, Jens Riis, who had to cancel a kayak trip to the island, but logged in some extra fishing time instead. Fun, hard-core fisherman!

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Dennis is from Greece! He’s got a nice bull dorado fishing with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. That’s El Sargento/ La Ventana in the background.

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We call him, “The Mayor!” He’s one of our most favorite amigos and was not going to let the hurricane prevent him from a few days in La Paz. George Gill started his trip with some nice pargo and snapper. He also had a full day pulling on dorado as well!

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Double fisted dorado for Manny from San Diego.

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Whalesharks have returned to the warm shallow waters of La Paz and this past week was a great opportunity to snorkel with them!

SOME SLOW SPOTS BUT OVERALL A DECENT WEEK OF FISHING WITH VARIETY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 12-19, 2014

Perfect weather.  Perfect water.  Sunny days.  Just a hint of breeze.  Very little humidity.  Could not ask for better conditions. It has been some of the best weather of the season.  Like a postcard for the Chamber of Commerce!

So…what happened to the fish?

The week started well with a nice jag of wahoo and a smattering of tuna mixed in with decent dorado, especially around Cerralvo Island.  Dark-colored deep-running Rapalas put the hurt to the wahoo…up to 50 pounds…live bait enticed the tuna…while the dorado ate pretty much anything.  Some sailfish and marlin were hooked.  The week looked promising!

Then, it sort of just fizzled.  It was like the fish took a holiday or something.  We struggled to get even a single dorado to bite and we resorted to having to go inshore for sierra, pargo and cabrilla.  Mix it up with some rooster fish and jack crevalle and that’s the bite.

I wish I knew.  Last week when we had a full moon…in fact we had a full lunar eclipse…the fish bit pretty nicely.  This week with a minimal moon, the fish are all lock-jawed.

Maybe things are cooling down a little too fast.  You can feel a bit of fall/winter in the air and northern winds are starting to creep in.  So, maybe the fish are adjusting.  But the middle of the week the bite literally just seemed to die.

As we turned the corner into the weekend, thankfully things picked up! For no explainable reason.  I didn’t notice anything that had changed.  But… Dorado started crashing again plus a few wahoo, billfish and rockfish (pargo and cabrilla) so that rescued the latter part of our week.  Hopefully things stay on the upside for awhile as we head down the backside of the season.

DONATIONS FOR HURRICANE RELIEF SNOWBALL FROM GENEROUS AMIGOS!

Collected over 500 pounds in two weeks!

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Alen Jones, Victonda Sheasby with Dr. Dennis and Tina Harper showed up with several tables full of school supplies, clothes for kids, playthings that filled about 100 pounds of ice chests and suitcases!

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Nash and Steve Johnson from Washington got contributions from friends and neighbors and had a full load of clothes and medical items like aspirin and first aid supplies.

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Two long-time friends of ours, “Modelo” Dave Pollard and Hector Chacon from S. California brought in two full ice chests stuffed to the limits with goods. Their respective families put out the word with with friends and the donations started rolling in. In addition to travel-sized toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoos and school items, their daughters hand rolled dozens of t-shirts so that could pack tightly into two 70-quart ice chests!

The generosity continues.  It started as a trickle just after Hurricane Odile almost a month ago and has turned into a wonderful flood and outpouring from so many of our friends and clients.  Over the last two weeks we have been posting pictures of some of our Tailhunter friends, and there are more this week.  However, this is by no means all of them!  There have been so many donations.  Some bring enough for a group of sherpas to carry.  Others bring a bag or two or fill some empty space in the corner of a suitcase or tackle box.  It’s all fantastic!  For those who lost so much…or everything…it’s all appreciated.  And it’s almost overwhelming that we’re speechlessly grateful.

Since Jill started the drive, she’s probably collected over 500 pounds of supplies and items in just the last TWO WEEKS ALONE!  And more arrives daily!  She’s making sure it’s all accounted for and going to needy groups where it will do the most good.

So on behalf of all of us at Tailhunters, God bless you all for your help and big hearts!  We are blessed and humbled beyond words.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of Oct. 5-12, 2014

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Late breaking news! SUNDAY…Wow! Lookit this! WAHOO DAY! Anyone in the S. California fishing industry knows pro Danny Kadota. He and his daughter Alexa were with Captain Victor today and got THREE wahoo and had another one bite through 250 pound mono! Check out Alexa’s massive ‘hoo!

 

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FOOTBALL SEASON FINALLY? The football-sized yellowfin tuna finally made an appearance for the year. There weren’t many of them, but the sprinkling of fish were a nice surprise the last two weeks like this one by Steve Snead from Boise Idaho, who had a great week. He’s here with Captain Pancho.

 

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Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet poses with Jim Adair and Brad Baker and one of the larger models of dorado we got this past week. They’re on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Don Busse found a hot spot for rock fish this past week showing off a nice rack of cabrilla and big triggers. Our amigo was fishing with Captain Pancho.

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Louie Sanchez, was not going to be denied his Baja trip to celebrate his 50th birthday and anniversary with his wife and family. After the hurricane, they jumped through all kinds of hoops to get down from home and Denver and got in some OK dorado fishing.

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First-time tuna for Ken Campbell from Lakewood CA with amigo, Jeremy Friez (helping out holding up the tail). Next time we’ll get Ken to eat the heart…as is the custom with first-time tuna takers!

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Steve Snead had a great story. He finally got his marlin off the bucket list. He was already hurting from a bad back, then tied into this gorgeous 150-pound class striped marlin. On light tackle, Steve and his back battled the first for 45 tough minutes. He got the fish out just long enough to take a picture then released it swimming strong. He came back to shore and went bed with a big smile but completely whupped.

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She’s a champ! Young Sierra Sanchez is only 8-years-old, but was quite a trooper coming down to La Paz and fishing for the first time. The youngster is from the Denver, Colorado area and shows off her first dorado proudly with Captain Joel.

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Determined to make it down, Steve Walker from idaho and his amigo, flew into Loreto then took our 5-hour shuttle to La Paz to make sure not to miss their fishing trip! Steve’s got a nice big bull on the gaff here that he caught north of La Paz.

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I don’t know how he stays so clean fishing in all white clothes all day! But, Chris Malley had a pretty good week including these two yellowfun tuna he caught off Bahia de Los Muertos!

GIFTS FOR LA PAZ

Don Busse and his gang…Ken Campbell…Jeremy Frieze…John Gibbs…Jim Adair…Brad Baker…Angelo Oliverio…and Chris Malley…brought in several hundred pounds of supplies and clothes for Jill’s hurricane relief efforts! it filled several duffle bags and ice chests! Since the hurricane, Jill has collected over 400 pounds of things for needy folks post-Odile.

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Wiley Randolph from Fullerton CA…another big heart ….and a great shopper…brought down brand new kids’ shoes, schools supplies and medical first aid things for Jill’s hurricane relief efforts.

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Jill, Cortez, Sierra and Louie Flores…all the way from Denver for the week and stuffed their bags with clothes, schools supplies and other great stuff for the hurricane relief. Big smiles and big hearts. Thanks to a wonderful family.

 

AIRPORTS OPEN – FISHERMEN COMING BACK – SO ARE THE FISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 5-12, 2014

Since hurricane Odile, three weeks ago, we’ve played cat-and-mouse with some erratic weather that seems to keep popping up and dropping some thundershowers on us now and then.  Mostly, it’s been great weather, but like the rest of the season, we do have to keep watching the weather reports and the horizon to check for building thunderheads.

However, for the first time since as long as I can remember, I’m looking at the weather forecasts the last few days and into the next few weeks and there’s zero precipitation forecast.  There are no little “weather icons” on the internet with little clouds and thunderbolts or rain icons on top of the daily advisories!  We’ve got gorgeous 95 degree sunny weather for days and fishing conditions could not be better.

As for the fishing, it’s making a comeback.

The fish got hit pretty hard too with the crazy weather and green dirty water really mixed it up from the storms and the run-off and it takes times to settle in.  Each week, the water seems to get a little better.

Fishing isn’t great, but it’s good most days and there’s even some jags of “very good” thrown in.

LA PAZ FISHING

Dorado have been the most consistent players, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.  There are spots of dorado just inside La Paz Bay and in various places around Espirito Santo Island, but the best concentration and larger fish are around the Rosario / Las Cruces area in the channel between La Paz peninsula and Cerralvo Island.  Fish aren’t bit, but they’re fun decent fish of 10-20 pounds with an occasional 30 pounder.  Some days are better than others.  Some boats will get limits some days while others right next to them will hit only a handful of fish or less.  But, the fish are there!

Likewise, there seems to be a nice bit of marlin and sailfish around right now.  Most have been caught incidentally while fishing for other species, but we’ve been hooking them all last week.  Not alot, but every day is different.  We had one day where almost every one of our pangas hooked at least one billfish.  The next day there were only 2 hooked.  Next day nothing.  Day after that there were 4.  All fish either broke off or were released except one which was kept and donated.

As a little sidebar, we had 2 wahoo hooked and cut off as well this week.

Late update:  Got some wahoo late Saturday off Espirito Santo Island!

LAS ARENAS

This area has been a bit of a puzzle this past week.  The biggest news is that we got our first football yellowfin tuna in a long long time.  There’s some spots of tuna that keep popping up around Cerralvo Island with some fish up to 100-pound reported by commercial fishermen.

The bad news is that we only got about a dozen footballs all week that went 12-20 pounds.  That’s it.  There are so many bonito around that you catch about 20 bonito to get one tuna…if at all.  I mean, it’s alot of fun and alot of action.  But, if you’re looking for some good ahi meat to take home, it’s alot of energy.   Still, it’s nice to have the tuna around!

The other downside is that if you spend the better part of your day chasing tuna, you won’t get much else.  So, the counts have not been real good for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.   When they DO chase other species, there’s dorado around and the pangas will get 2-8 fish hooked up per day and the counts differ.  It all depends if the guys went after the tuna or not.

So, what alot of our guys are doing is getting their dorado and ice chests filled by fishing La Paz, then specifically going for tuna with our other Tailhunter Fleet at Las Arenas.  Seems to work out OK.

Last minute update:  Five wahoo taken on two pangas late Sunday up to 50 pounds!

HURRICANE UPDATES

We’re up an running.  Airports are open.  Flights are in.  The Los Cabos Airport officially opened months earlier than anticipated on Oct. 3rd and welcomed their first flights on United and Alaska on Oct. 8th with mariachi bands and water cannon salutes!  Other airlines are coming online.  La Paz and Loreto Airports have been open for several weeks.   Still doing some cleanup in the streets and to some businesses and homes, but the heavy work is mostly done and most things are running like normal.  Most visitors would never even know anything happened!  Come fishing!

 That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 21-28, 2014

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Debbie Winkleman from Arizona gets a lift from Captain Boli after putting this nice bull dorado in the boat near Espirito Santo Island.

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Ken Cavallon (left) from Washington got his first sailfish just before the hurricane hit. He gets a hand from amigos, Wade Webster and Scott Daniels. Unfortunately, their fishing got interrupted by the storm.

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Another dorado for Debbie on the beach in front of La Concha Hotel!

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Mike Bryant with one of his dorado that he got just off the point at Las Arenas.

Jilly and JR

Two weeks ago, we were ankle deep and surveying the damage the morning after Odile struck La Paz. Fallen trees…broekn windows…shattered glass everywhere. It had been a long and sleepless night.  The start of many to follow.  The hotel has made a remarkable recovery!



 

LA PAZ…AIRLINES…FISHING BACK ON TRACK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 21-28, 2014

Two weeks ago, we were standing in the water surveying the rubble and destruction for the biggest hurricane ever to hit Baja.  Two weeks later…WE’RE ON THE COMEBACK!  We’re digging out with remarkable speed!

Frankly, there hasn’t been alot of fishing going on since the hurricane.  All the tourists have pretty much been evacuated or, there’s no way to fly in, or hotels have been damaged or without services so trips have been canceled.  Local residents or expats aren’t fishing either as everyone struggles to get back on keel with larger things to worry about like food, water, gas and their homes and jobs.

However, we’ve had a few boats out here and there.  Weather has still been erratic.  Nothing bad, but there have been some lingering intermittent rain cells that have moved through the area that has also kept us off the water or winds strong enough where it was better just not to put out any boats.

As might be expected, the further we get away from the hurricane, the better the water conditions.  Given that we just had the biggest hurricane in Baja history, it’s not surprising that the waters were very overturned dirty and green.  Lots of debris in the water too.

The first few days, there were a few small dorado around.  Some sierra and bonito as well.

Within a few days, we were seeing more dorado, but they seemed interested, but wary.  Very hesitant to take a bait or lure.

By the end of this week, the fish were back on the chew.  We had limits or near limits of dorado including some nice bulls in the 20-30 pound class as well as bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle and a few small rooster fish.

For everyone who sent well wishes and support phone calls and e-mails, we much appreciated it.  We’re digging out and like everyone else, trying to manage and pull back together.  The storm has been pretty devastating. On many levels.

The La Paz Airport is back in operation.  Tourists are gone, but the hotels are jammed full with more than 20,000 escapees from Cabo San Lucas.

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And we just got this  HOT FLASH:

As of Oct 8th…ALASKA AIRLINES WILL HAVE ONE FLIGHT A DAY FROM LA PAZ TO CABO SAN LUCAS!!!

ALASKA AIR

Here is the official announcement:

Alaska Airlines will resume flying one daily roundtrip flight from Los Angeles

to Los Cabos starting Oct. 8 following the recent announcement that Los Cabos

International Airport will reopen. Tickets are now available for purchase at [

http://www.alaskaair.com/ ]www.alaskaair.com.

The airport sustained significant damage by Hurricane Odile and has since been

closed for repairs. 

Starting Oct. 8, Flight 236 will depart Los Angeles at 10:10 a.m. arriving in

Los Cabos at 1:26 p.m. The return Flight 251 will depart Los Cabos at 2:25 p.m.

and arrive in Los Angeles at 3:45 p.m. 

Customers who are currently holding a reservation on flight 236 or 251 for Oct.8 or later do not need to rebook their flight.  

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All our pangas and captains are well.  We pulled the pangas out’ve the water before the storm hit.  The La Paz captains did better than our Las Arenas captains.  At Las Arenas, many in the area are will without water, power, electricity or phones.  Compound that with the tremendous loss of work with all the cancelations.  The loss of work is a big hit for everyone.

Generally, here in La Paz, most areas have water and power and phones again.  But many of the outlying areas are still lacking services two weeks after the storm.  Of course, many of those who had the least, lost the most and have the hardest time making the comeback.  In Cabo, they have approximately only 15% back on the grid, but the improvement is remarkable given initial estimates.  As mentioned above, the airport will start getting flights this week.  Many hotels are opening albeit on a limited basis.  But again, the most underprivileged areas were hit the hardest and will take the longest to recover.

Many have asked for ways to help.  Thanks for the generous hearts.  If you’re coming down, ANYTHING is welcome.  Many people lost everything.  All ages.  All areas.  Clothes…school supplies…medical supplies…anything is appreciated and needed.  If you’re not coming down, there are still ways to help:

La Paz Rises

https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Paz-Rises/636793356437674

Links for donations and other info will be up and hopefully it can be of use as a clearing house for info.  My wife Jill started this page.

 FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/index.php?webkey=losninosdelapaz

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Baja disaster relief fund (Mexican Red Cross/International Community Foundation)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/?webkey=bajadisasterrelief

 

That’s our story.   

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 7-14, 2014

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Bruce Dodge (in the shirt with the scales) and his amigos from S.California had a great 3 days of fishing with good numbers or dorado between 10 and 35 pounds plus other species. Here they were with some of their fish from Las Arenas on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

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The skies darken in a matter of minutes at Bahia de Los Muertos as we wait for our fishing pangas to hurredly get back in!

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The track of Hurricane ODILE as of Sunday morning.

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Chris Kerley and Bob Patterson with some big grins and big dorado including this huge bull on the sand at Muertos Bay.

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Captain Jorge does a group shot with Jeff Bobo and Rod Emi from the Los Angeles area and their first day of fishing.

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Tasty catch and an unusual one for Chris Kerley and his pompano. Normally, we don’t see these fish until springtime. Great eating and related to yellowtail, jack crevalle, roosterfish and amberjack.

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It’s great to see folks catch a “FIRST!” For Mike and Karina jennings from Black Diamond, Washington, these are their first roosterfish. In fact, for Karina, it was her first-ever saltwater fish. All fish were released.

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New Mexico in the house! Captain “Arkie” Archangel helps photo op another nice bull dorado with our amigos, Scott Burmeister and Bo Herrera from New Mexico.

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Great colors on Mike Jennings nice dorado with Punta Perrico in the background.

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Mike Delaney is all smiled with Captain Pancho and this nice barred pargo headed for the barbecue.

 

POWERFUL HURRICANE ODILE BEARS DOWN ON LA PAZ PUTS SOGGY END TO GOOD WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug 7-14, 2014

Another in a long string of crazy weeks!

Last week Tropical Storm Norbert hit us and interrupted a really nice jag of fishing for a few days.  No real damage, just some wind and rain and enough to have to cancel fishing for two days.

But, then, with each passing day away from Norbert, fishing got better and better and better!

For the better part of this week, we were well into some really nice dorado.  Good school-sized fish from 8-15 pounds mixed with some larger 20-40 pound models.  Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets were bent on fish every day!

In addition to the dorado, we were also getting into some sailfish, striped marlin, rooster fish to 50 pounds, a couple of wahoo hookups (none landed) and even some pargo and cabrilla along with the bonito!

A real nice mix.  Lots of action.  Great conditions. Good numbers of fish.

And all during this time, we saw another storm…”ODILE” forming up south of us.  Initially, it looked like it was coming straight for us.  It as cause for concern.

But, as with about a dozen storms before it, it started up our way, then with each day it veered further and further west out into the Pacific.  At most, we expected a bit of rain and wind.  We could handle that.

But, then Saturday night about midnight, ODILE, pulled a fast one and unexpectedly veered right back at Baja.  And, as I’m writing this Sunday evening,  it’s gonna be a big one.  It’s possibly going to be a CATEGORY 4 or 5!  That’s “Katrina”-sized storm.  That means winds and rains up to about 120-150 mph.

As I’m writing this, rains are just starting to fall and winds are escalating.  We were able to fish today, but we’re canceling fishing tomorrow (MONDAY) and probably Tuesday as well as I’m sure the port captain won’t allow anyone out.  We expect that by this evening, we’ll start getting the heavy rains and we’ll get slammed SUNDAY NIGHT.

We had the football games going full turbo at our Tailhunter Restaurant, but had to send everyone home after the Chargers/ Seahawks game in order to start dismantling the restaurant to securing everything agains the storm and also to let our employees get home to their families.  We’re sandbagging and locking everything down.  Basically under siege for a few days.  Hopefully, we’ll all be fine.

AND FISHING AGAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 1-7, 2014

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Scott McKenzie from Seattle WA and his sisters Jana and Lauren have fished with us many times for many years and caught all kinds of fish with us including marlin that they released. But this one was quite a story. While fishing with our Tailhunter fleet at Bahia de Los Muertos, they caught a few dorado the saw a marlin on the surface. They tossed a bait at it and the fish went off. Over three hours, the three of them battled the fish on a light rod and 40-pound test. However, during the first hour they almost had the fish to the boat and it was battling down and bulldogging without doing much jumping. Suddenly the big striper went ballistic as two killer whales started to chase it! During the balance of the battle, the fish stayed largely airborne trying to avoid the killer whales which circled the marlin and the panga adding quite a measure of excitement. They finally got the fish to the boat but were not able to revive it…but the marlin probable didn’t want to go back in the water anyway. The killer whales kept circling and finally swam off.

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The McKenzie marlin gets air as it’s being chased by the killer whales!

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Happy Birthday to me! Our good amigo, Mike Whitlow from Kennewick, WA came down to celebrate #50 with us. He’s a spectacular light tackle fisherman and pro bass guy too! He got himself this nice rooster on light tackle and did a great release after the photo! Feliz cumpleanos, amigo!

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Some images from Mike Whitlow’s 50th birthday party at Tailhunter Restaurant! Good time had by all! Thanks for sharing, Mike and Wendy!

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Darryl “Buffalo Soldier” Poindexter…one of the nicest and funnest guys on his first trip regretfully, only got to fish one day before the storm hit us ,but he made the most of it with a good day of dorado fishing like this nice bull he presses overhead!

NORBERT

It was FUGLY! Norbert eventually turned into a Cat 3 hurricane that by now has gone up the Baja coast and is dropping rain on the SW United States, but not before doing some pretty bad damage to Baja coastal areas. Gratefully, La Paz didn’t get hit too hard, but enough to put the clamp on fishing. Better to be safe and dry with a cold one.

HURRICANE PARTY!

When you can’t fish…fishermen very often…find other means of entertainment! Thanks to everyone this week, including Alex Trasvina and his boys who kept grinning even tho’ they had only one day to fish and had to cancel. They ended up at Tailhunter Restaurant watching football and raising their glasses! Salud, Fish Brothers! The “Tequila Bandito” says you rock!

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This is another great story. Adam Florence all the way from Kansas was fishing with Captain Pancho. He went to Walmart here in La Paz and got a cheapo freshwater spinning rod with 8 lb. test. He got bit big time and this bull dorado was all he could handle almost spooling him. They had to chase it down with the boat!

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Great shot and super fish by Wade Ralston who visited us from Washington on his first trip down. Punta Perrico in the background right off the rocks. Wade is a light tackle guy and fishes bass tournaments professionally. He did a great catch-and-release on this pez gallo.

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Nick Petrilli and his son, Nick, Jr. had a banner day out’ve Las Arenas with Captain Pancho and a slammer of mahi.

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Just after the storm, the waters started to get back to normal. Dave Sundgren and Steve Rosebaugh hold up a nice pair on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

 

GOOD FISHING SLAMMED BY STORM NORBERT

ALTHOUGH LA PAZ ESCAPES DAMAGE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-7, 2014

It was a worrisome week on alot of levels.  The previous week had been one of the slowest weeks of fishing for the season for no apparent reason.  All the signs were there for good fishing, yet the fish just either didn’t show up or just weren’t ready to cooperate.  It wasn’t just slow, it was dead.

So, we jumped into this week not knowing what was going to happen. It was a tale of two completely different weeks…

EARLY IN THE WEEK

As it turned out, the fishing came back to life!  Maybe not full blast, but compared to the previous week, we were rocking with bent rods and good variety.  Both of our fleets…the Tailhunter fleet in Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets found dorado between 8 and 15 pounds on the average, but also some of the trophy bulls running 20-40 pounds.  Limits were not uncommon and it was good to see that some times there were so many fish that anglers were releasing them as fast as they could go or at least kicking back the small ones!  It’s been a few weeks since we had that kind of bite.  Moreso, we often had double…triple…and quadruple hookups!

Even better, for our Las Arenas fleet where it’s really been a struggle sometimes, we not only had dorado, but a surprising number of sailfish and marlin were hooked between 70 and 200 pounds.  Most were released, but really did a number for some of the guys using light tackle.

As well, rooster fish showed up again between 10 and 50 pounds and we even had a few wahoo hooked up although none made it back to the boats!  Add in some big bonito…jack crevalle…some pargo and snapper and it made for a pretty decent week of fishing.

During this whole time, we were all watching the weather…and watching…and watching.  Norbert started as a little blip…it got bigger and bigger…and went to tropical storm level.  But like so many other storms that have appeared on the horizon down south, the tracking for the storm showed it was going out to the Pacific and wouldn’t do more than drop a little rain on us.  We were sure that like all the other storms, it would continue to veer out and away from Baja.

It didn’t…

LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK

Tropical Storm Norbert became Hurricane Norbert and would eventually reach a category 3 ripper.  Although La Paz did not suffer extensive damage, in areas of Cabo and along the Pacific Coast, there was extensive flooding and damage.  Several thousand people had to be evacuated and over 1000 homes were damaged.  At the time of writing this, there was at least 1 fatality related to the storm.

For us in La Paz, the heavy wind and rain hit us just as we were launching in the early dark of Thursday morning.  Rain began to pelt and the winds began to howl.  And it got stronger.  We all went for cover and hunkered down. And hunkered down.

For three days pretty much everyone had to sit it out.    The roads to Las Arenas got flooded.  Mud everywhere.  While La Paz pretty much did not flood. there were intermittent bits of heavy wind…rain…drizzle…and more rain as the storm passed.  AND THE PORT WAS CLOSED!  So, we couldn’t even get out if we wanted to.  For safety measures, the port captain kept the port bottled up and prevented anyone from leaving until mid-morning Saturday.

It was really bad especially for some of our many anglers who never got to fish before having to go home.  Or only getting to fish 1 day or 2 days.  And, when they did get to fish, conditions weren’t the best.  If it wasn’t windy or wet, then the waters, even after the storm passed, were turned over green and muddy.  Hat’s off to so many guys who grinned and were patient and still kept smiling while we did our best to control things of which we had no control.  You guys and gals are the best!

It wasn’t until Sunday that we finally started to see some changes in the water and some better fishing action with dorado, billfish and pargo waking up.

This coming week, as you’re reading this looks like it might have some of the best weather we’ve seen in awhile.  Hopefully, it lets the fishing come ripping back!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug 17-24, 2014

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We all remember what it was like to get our first fish! Captain Alfredo with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet laughs and helps young Taryn Mitoma from Livermore CA with a nice dorado. She got away with her dad for a few quick days with us and had some very good catches! This was her first time and she’s definitely “hooked.”

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Yup! Still got roosters around! Leif Dover from Atlanta GA makes several trips a year with us and always gets into big fish. Captain Rogelio looks on as Leif hoists a big rooster estimated at 60-70 pounds taken on live bait. The fish was released.

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First billfish and it’s HUGE for Dr. Ed Mitoma who was fishing north of La Paz when he hooked into this unusually large striper estimated at 170-200 pounds by Captain Alfredo.  Quite a few billfish were hooked this past week.

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Two of the larger dorado taken this week among so many larger fish that were lost! That’s why they are bigger fish! But George Kasee and Leif Dover pose with two big bulls.

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From Texas, Kevin Todd was fishing out’ve Las Arenas and got this unusual rainbow runner which is a cousin to yellowtail and makes great eating. Kevin couldn’t resist the photo with the cigar in the fish! Great shot!

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Coach Joey Fuschetti insists his ability to catch fish has something to do with his camouflage shirt so the fish can’t see him! He always does well fishing with us every year!

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Captain Jorge and George Kasee with another rooster caught and released off Las Arenas!

 

THREATS OF RAIN KEEP ANGLERS FISHING IN LA PAZ WATERS WITH DORADO ON THE CHEW

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 17-24, 2014

We spent the week dodging the “possibility” of thundershowers all week and it looks like as you read this, we’ll be doing the same thing this week as well. According to predictions, we ran anywhere from 10-80% chance of thundershowers all week.

Now, that didn’t always mean it actually dropped water on our heads.  Some of these never ever materialized other than some big fluffy clouds.  Sometimes they were little squalls.  On two days we had real gully washers and floods that lasted about an hour…then the sun came out.  Sometimes it rained in one part of the city but a few blocks away, they got nothing.

It really didn’t affect our fishing much other than we kept most of our anglers fishing with our La Paz fleet instead of taking the chance of fishing with our Las Arenas fleet which has areas that are much more exposed to wind and waves.  Especially the wind!  A little rain is no biggie but big winds…you might as well forget it.

As a matter of fact, the only day when fishing was really off was a day that south winds kicked up into double digits.

For the most part, however, even if the rains came, it was generally in the later afternoon after all the fishing was done.  That’s what it looks like again this week as several big storms hundreds of miles to the south of the Baja keep passing by out to sea, but spinning bits of rain cells our way.

LAS ARENAS

Because of the threat of thundershowers, we didn’t do much fishing in the area.  It was just easier to keep fishing out’ve La Paz instead where the anglers had a better shot at good weather and more chances to get into fish, even if the weather late in the day soured.

However, when we did fish, the fishing was OK.  We got into some TUNA!  Yes…there were some big boy tuna that showed up.  Several guys hooked into tuna estimated over 100 pounds, but all the fish broke off without ever seeing the fish.  The area was around the south point of Cerralvo Island.

As for other species, the fun-sized 10-15 pound dorado were usually pretty easy to catch as well as big bonito.  But the nice surprise were the number of hookups on sailfish and striped marlin.  Most fish either got loose or were broken off.

We also got several nice rooster fish along the beach in the 20-40 pound class.

LA PAZ

As mentioned above, this was our most consistent area to fish.  It was better to fish here than take a chance and end up in stormy weather further south.  And, for the most part, it was a good decision.

Decent to very good dorado action took center stage.  Lots of fish were lost so the counts weren’t as good as they could have been, but pangas still averaged some good counts of 5-20 pound fish with some larger in the 30 pound class.  Every day was different.  Every panga was different.  Some areas produced wide-open bites one day, but the same spot the next produced very little.  But if one spot wasn’t working, other spots took over.

Some nice rooster fish were caught and I was surprised at the size of some of the striped and blue marlin hooked and lost!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 10-17, 2014

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Another pretty solid week of dorado fishing with some really nice bulls taken including this sweet one that jumped a bait and bent Steve Dorsey’s rod fishing north of La Paz.

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Captain Adolfo poses with our Colorado amigo, Frank Kunze who fished with us all week and had a good shot of dorado including this nice bull he got on the flyrod after just missing a rooster on the fly. He’s on the beach here at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Ed Sakuda was on his first visit to fish Las Arenas and we think he’s “sold” on coming back with 3 days of dorado fishing. His sister Caryn and her husband Mark Aizawa from Pasadena CA get in the photo too!

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Daniel Llerena from Buena Park had never fished salt water before and his dad hadn’t fished in salt water in more than a decade! The two of them came down and got in two quick days of fishing with some great results! Dan was fishing with Captain Joel when he put the hurt on this mahi.

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Lee Carlson from the Denver Colorado area, spent 6 days on the water with us fishing with both our Tailhunter fleets and shows off one of his better bull dorado he got near Cerralvo Island.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action.  The family is from Upland CA.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action. The family is from Upland CA.

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Gino and his son Daniel Llerena got in two quick days of fishing and made the most of it with some nice dorado as well as this striped marlin on light tackle. Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Kelly Soo Hoo has fished with us before and did really well. This time she brought her son, Nick, for his first experience. Nice had a great time and got a variety of fish including these very tough jack crevalle!

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From Bankor, Pennsylvania, Rich Normyl had a full hand of mahi. Check out the storm clouds coming up behind him at Bahia de los Muertos!

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The whale sharks have returned to La Paz bay. Dan Hayler took this great photo of a “baby” whaleshark of only about 20 feet in the shallow bay water. They can grow to over 50 feet long and are true sharks, but are gentle and have no teeth and eat plankton.

This is what 15 minutes of rain produces on the La Paz waterfront right in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant Bar.

 

CRAZY WEATHER PACES FISH BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2014

 

Even with the week of “super moon” we still had a pretty decent week of fishing going on.  Even with the tropical thundershowers late in the week that were almost like baby hurricanes, the fish still bit.  But it was a bit of a challenge.  But, like I said, the fish still bit.

The super moon was beautiful over Baja waters, especially here in La Paz over the bay making it much like a postcard with the huge bright moon shimmering over the bay and the palm trees.

The big problem was more of these afternoon thunderstorms that crashed into us late in the day.  Fortunately, mostly after the fishing was done.  But something to watch.  Blue skies would darken quickly.  Incredible lightning storms would follow then almost simultaneously thunderclaps that would sound like they were right overhead.  During one 2 hour period during one storm, over 70 light night strikes were counted.  During another storm, a bolt hit a palm tree on the malecon waterfront area igniting it which then caused it to fall on the palapa roof of a popular bar.  The bar caught on fire then burned to the ground with huge flames 30 feet in the air.

Within minutes of the thunder and lightning the rains would cascade.  Huge rolling waves of sheer water flooded streets and turned many into rivers and lower areas and arroyos into raging category 2 or 3 cauldrons that would’ve been the envy of whitewater kayakers…except they were all brown mud!

Cars suddenly found themselves up to the doors in water and many stalled.  Neighborhoods found themselves turned into islands with people trapped in long rainy lines unable to leave the area and others in the opposite directions unable to return home.  Off the La Paz cliffs, mini-Yosemite-like waterfalls tumbled 20, 30 40 feet to the roads along with rocks and boulders.  In a one hour period during one storm, more than 3 inches of water descended on La Paz.

But, like I said as far as fishing, at least most of this was all taking place later in the day or evenings when the fishing was done.

LAS ARENAS

There was only one day during the week when we decided it wasn’t worth it to fish Las Arenas because of the stormy conditions.  The rest of the time, for the most part, Las Arenas was pretty much as good as it has been all year.  Relatively speaking.

We actually even had small sardines to use for bait and we had flyfishers hooking rooster fish, dorado, jack crevalle and bonito.

The dorado were 5-15 pounders with a few 20-30 pounders as well.  If a boat found the right spot, limits were pretty easy.  Roosterfish, while not as plentiful as earlier in the season were still around with most in the 10-30 pound class.  Bonito, jack crevalle and even some barred pargo gave us some variety.

LA PAZ

Our La Paz fishery has been the most consistent all year.  Some days are better than others, like anywhere else, but 9 out’ve 10 days, the fish are around and biting.  Even on that 10th day, I’m not sure what the issue is, but anglers and my captains will tell me…”The fish were all around.  We could see them or they would sniff the baits, but just wouldn’t take the baits!”

That was usually made up for on the other days of fishing when the dorado would be found in many areas from just inside the bait to the island and then around the point to El Rosario and Las Cruces.

Generally, the fish were 10-15 pounders although there were still persistent squirts in the 5 pound class around.  But, larger 20-30 pounders were not uncommon.  We also hooked some marlin and sailfish with most being released as well as some stray rooster fish that ran about 30 pounds near Espirito Santo Island.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 20-27, 2014

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This is the best mustache of the week! Don Slaiman and Captain Pancho from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet bust out the big smiles with two nice bull dorado on the beach.

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Chris Chang owns an organic nursery in Canada and had never fished in Mexico before, but fishing with Tailhunters got plenty of dorado and, on his last day, a huge 300 pound blue marlin north of La Paz that he fought on a Penn 6/0 reel with 60 pound test and put in the boat in only about an hour. The gut hooked fish inhaled the green and orange lure all the way down it’s gullet.  He was fishing with popular Captain Rogelio “Jolly Roger” Camacho.

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There’s a zillion good things going on in this photo of Tyler Emard from Fullerton CA. Fishing with Captain Rogelio from our Taihunter La Paz fleet, Tyler fought this dorado…his first and biggest…for 20 minutes on light tackle…no belt…all arms and shoulders! He’s headed to the University of Arizona in a few weeks! Great colors on this photo!

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The skies went from clear to this…as a wave or darkness hits the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. There had been absolutely nothing on the advisories or radar about this. That’s why they are called “toritos.” (little bulls). These storms come out of nowhere with thunder, lightning, wind and rain and it’s almost like a baby hurricane. Ominous. The pangas had to scramble back to the beach for cover.

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Seven minutes after the first photo, here’s what the beach looked like at Bahia de Los Muertos…a malestrom! Thirty minutes later, the sun was out…

 

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Las Arenas provided some good action this week for Tailhunter clients including Steve Holguin from Los Angeles and his son, Marcos who is attending college in New York as the pair show off a set of dorado standing on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Susie Waters had never fished La Paz or ocean-fished before, but broke into it big time with a couple of days on the water with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This is just a super photo of her hanging the fish all by herself with big smiles.

Linden Zach 7-14 dorado

Long Beach fishing veteran, Zach Linden, raced down for a last-minute trip this week and a couple of days of fishing. The fish gods smiled and Zach did some great action on ultralight tackle including this pair of La Paz dorado.

dorado Rebecca Kendrick 7-14 tags

Rebecca Kendrick got into the thick of the dorado action with this nice bull mahi fishing with Captain Alfredo and deckie Blas. She had always wanted to fish Mexico and salt water and had a great first experience with a number of nice fish over several days of fishing.

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It’s got a little sand on the forehead, but a great photo of Peter Knapp and Captain Pancho on the beach at Las Arenas with this nice-sized bull.

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Grant Stark and Levi Fadoul put the wood to this thick bull dorado fishing north of La Paz last week. These two guys had too much fun all week. Always seemed to be cracking up!

 

UNPREDICTABLE EL NINO CONDITIONS AFFECT FISHING BUT DORADO DO THEIR BEST

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2014

With the exception of another of those surprise “torito” (little bull) storms that popped up on Thursday, it was a pretty good week of fishing for the most part.

This time of year, waters are extremely warm…actually, warmer than usual…as a result of the “el nino” situation.  This has given rise to rapidly forming storms that are not shown on weather advisories in the morning.  However, out of seemingly clear skies, huge thunderheads suddenly build and the skies grow dark within minutes.  Winds start whipping and wave emerge from calm seas turning the ocean into churning froth.  Wind-driven rain doesn’t fall so much as it shoots sideways from the gusts.  It’s time to get the heck off the water!

Several weeks ago, one of these storms turned into a huge waterspout between Cerralvo Island and El Sargento and Las Arenas.  We didn’t quite get that this week, but in the span of about 10 minutes clear skies went dark and the oceans got treacherous.  The pangas had barely been on the water, but found themselves racing back to the beach made more perilous by waves now pounding the sands where the pangas had to land.  Lighting strikes illuminated everyone scrambling around for shelter.  Cell phone and electrical power gets cut off.

As the rains hit and everyone hunkers down….that’s pretty much all you can do.  There’s a reason they call these “little bulls.”  Within an hour or two…sometimes in the span of minutes…it’s over.  The sun blazes back out.  The winds turn off.  The skies go clear and flat.  Except for puddles of water, there’s no trace.

And that’s what happened Thursday morning.

But, the rest of the week was pretty grand!

LAS ARENAS

Fishing definitely improved over the week before.  Again, dorado were center stage, but there were fewer punk 5 pound dorado and more respectable 10-20 pounders and all willing to charge pretty much water was in the water.  Some boats did better than others, but then the next day the boat that did poorly would be the big boy boat.  Consistently , ever panga we put on the water caught fish…or had opportunities to catch fish.  One of the big problems is that the baits we have tend to be large.  Hence, it takes longer than normal for the fish to really chomp the bait and get a hook down in their mouths.  Anxious anglers would often tell me they pulled the trigger too soon before the dorado could eat and they would lose the hook-set and half-a-bait would come flying back to the boat…sans dorado!

LA PAZ

Still our most consistent area.  Our La Paz boats rocked some really nice 20-40 pound fish this week as they have now since June.  The fish extend  right from La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island then around the corner to about El Rosario/ Las Cruces where the larger bulls seem to have taken residence not too far from the beach.  Co-incidentally, that’s where large schools of baitfish have been seen.  We also got some roosterfish off the beaches.

The bigger news is the increased incidence of hookups with billfish including larger-than-normal sailfish and even some blue marlin.  I don’t remember seeing so many hookups on blue marlin as I have the past two or three weeks.  Most of the sails and marlin are getting released, but one fish that couldn’t be released was a hefty 300-pound blue.

WEATHER

El Nino effects keep coming.  Days can start out with bright brilliant sunshine but by afternoon, the clouds roll in and we get tropical storms that can be pretty crazy.  It can rain in one place and 100 yards away,  it’s bone dry! And the rain can last 5 minutes of an hour.  Then the sun comes blazing out.  But, there’s some predictions of more afternoon rain this week.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet for Week of July 13-20, 2014

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Our amigo, Raul Chollet, here in La Paz just recently started fishing only about 2 years ago and has the “fishing bug”  big time! He’s since gotten his first marlin, roosterfish, sierra and here, his biggest dorado. It was a slow day but they got a few and this nice dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. That day, some boats did OK and others, like Raul’s , had a bit more trouble locating the bite.

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Jeanette Carroll from New Mexico with Captain Victor just south of Bahia de Los Muertos caught and released this hefty 40-45 pound roosterfish on a live bait. It was her biggest and “bigger than my husband’s rooster!”

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Phil Matteson was on his 2nd trip to La Paz this week and told me they had winter in Montana that was 40 degrees below zero! Weather was’t so great in La Paz this week either as we got clouds and wind, but at least it was a tad warmer than Montana. First day out, Phil nailed this big boy bull dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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John Kennedy, our amigo from Auburn CA, had to postpone his yearly trip earlier in the year for an injury, but came roaring back with a great week of fishing topped off his last day with this nice sailfish caught and released, as well as a box of dorado, pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish releasing many.

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Dick Carroll and his wife came to visit us again this year from New Mexico and couldn’t have been a more fun couple. Both of them got roosterfish with our Las Arenas fleet on the same day including this one that Dick quickly released.

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Mark Martis from Redondo Beach CA has been fishing with us at Tailhunter since the early days in the mid-90’s. Under grey skies he still put the wood to this nice big bull dorado near Espirto Santo Island.

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Air Dorado taking off! Great shot taken by Phil Matteson of a 40-pound bull dorado ripping off line and grabbing air. As anyone knows who has tried to take one of these shots, it’s a difficult shot to take. The dorado are moving up to 30 mph!

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Happy Gal! Becky Munos from Arizona on her first day fishing and first time to La Paz just could not get enough of the fishing and beaches of La Paz. Fishing just off the beach at La Ventana, she put this nice little bull in the box. They released or donated all the the fish they caught!

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Josh Matteson on his first time ever salt water fishing is from Cascade, Montana. His first cast, he nails a 40 pound dorado….among others. The next day he battles this nice striped marlin and released it after taking this great photo with Captain Pancho. They were fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

 

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He’s just about to “heave-ho” this roostefish over the side to release it, but a good fish just-the-same, for amigo Jack Young from Arizona on his first trip with Tailhunters. He had a good week of fishing with both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet. The roosterfish was caught his first day just off El Sargento.

 

 

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Wayne Moss, has been my Canadian amigo for many many years and is a commercial pilot in the Maldive Islands. He’s also one of the better fishermen I know. I love the look on his face here wondering if this big bull dorado is gonna make one more attempt to get back in the water! Great colors. Nice fish!

 

 

DIFFICULT WEEK STILL HAD SOME GOOD HIGHLIGHTS

La   Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 14-20

 

 

It was a hard week to put my finger on.  With the exception of flyfishermen, everyone got fish, but where you fished and how you fished made a huge difference. If you took our advice and did what we or the captains told you to do, you got fish and there were some nice ones to be had!   Overall, I would have to say this week was slower.  Last week we had the huge full moon and fishing was much better.  Last week we had rainy weather and fishing was better.   This week the moon was better and the weather was generally better and fishing was a bit more complicated.

Here’s the breakdown:

LAS ARENAS

The week started OK.  We got some roosters.  There were small to medium dorado around.  There were some billfish, pargo and cabrilla.  Not spectacular fishing, but it was OK.  We even had bait.  But, as the week went on, we had some of the worst fishing we’ve seen all season with our Las Arenas fleet.

On the surface, I could say it was the lack of baits.  That includes ballyhoo, sardines and mackerel that we usually use for most of the gamefish.  But, the sabalo…the big ladyfish…that we use for the bigger roosters also got hard to find.  So, naturally, lack of bait had something to do with it.

Likewise, later in the week we had some tropical storm cells pass through.  This made for some rougher and windier waters.  It got choppy.  The skies were gray.  There were little flurries of rain here and there locally.  We almost had another water spout form up one afternoon near Cerralvo Island prompting the panga fleets to head for the beach.

So, all that would have or could have affected fishing.  I’ve seen similar situations where we had all those conditions and we still got fish.

But beyond that, there were some other variables as well which, contributed to the lack of scores on the fish.

Later in the week we had folks specifically going for “home run” fish.  Those are fish that you either get ‘em…or you don’t. Instead of going for “action” they went for the top-shelf bad boys.   They are trophy fish for a reason.  For instance, going for wahoo.  You either get-em..or you don’t.  You can be the king of, if nothing is there, then you have a good shot of not coming back with any fish at all because you have to concentrate on the wahoo.

Same for the rooster fish.  First, you have to spend the time trying to catch the better live bait…mullet or ladyfish.  That can take time.  If the baits aren’t there or are hard to come by…that’s a whole lot of time spent.  Then, actually chasing the roosters takes time as well.  Again, there’s alot of focus and energy on them.  If they aren’t there or not biting, then you stand a good chance of getting goose-egged.  That’s what happened quite often towards the end of the week.

Frustrated anglers who came back with nothing.  But that’s what happens when you swing for the fences!  I applaud the effort.  It’s awesome.  I like that kind of fishing myself.  But, sometimes the big hitters strike out.  Part of fishing.  Part of the game. You have to be ready for disappointment.  And there were some disappointed anglers this week. Who got no fish!

About the flyfishing…Frankly, it’s been tough.  I’ve been singing that tune all season.

  No one in Baja seems to have bait for chum for the flyfishermen.  This El Nino has not been good to the flyfishers.  Normally, we have sardines to toss out and get the fish going.  The sardines are non-existent.

We have larger baits…caballito and mackerel, but you can’t chum with that.

The flyfishers who have been coming down and willing to be flexible and do some conventional fishing are all getting fish.  Everyone is catching fish.  The ones who are strictly flyfishing are not doing well.  The operators here in La Paz that are strictly flyfishers have had a terrible year because they have no other avenues to catch fish.  They are strictly flyfishing.  I did have 4 guys who just left this morning that were strictly flyfishing.

  I kept offering to switch them to fish with my La Paz fleet where we are catching fish, but they insisted on staying with my Las Arenas fleet where they has been no bait…they caught pretty much zero fish for 3 days and left pretty frustrated and angry with us.  They could have switched to bait or at least fished with my La Paz fleet and done quite well…even had a shot on the flyrod, but they were stubborn.  I wish I could have gotten them some fish.  See below…we did find some roosters.  The bonito were huge and would have been awesome on the flyrod.  They could have gotten the dorado going on the bait then tossed a flyrod into the boils.   These were all good guys and experienced fishermen, but I was as frustrated as them.They left for Loreto where I hear it’s been tough as well, but I hope they do better.

I feel for all the flyfishers I’ve seen here this year…lots of them fishing with our competitors.  I meet alot of them at our restaurant and hear the stories.   That’s fishing this year.  As I said at the beginning…it depends on where you fish and how you fish.

LA PAZ

La Paz, while not as good as last week, was still very productive.  There were some slow spots…but everyone got fish every day.  Some of our pangas would do really well one day and others not so good, but the next day the panga that did poorly would find fish and the other would have a slower day.  But the dorado were very cooperative with fish in the 5-40 pound class and some HUGE 12-15 pound dynamite bonito that put some guys on light tackle on their knees!  As well, we had several marlin and sailfish hooked up and either lost or released…even a few rooster fish…plus some nice pargo and cabrilla.

The difference is that we had more live bait…caballitos and mackerel.  Still a bit big to chum, but the baits brought the fish to the boat.  You could even catch a bonito and then chop it up and use it for chum and then that would bring even more fish to the boat.

The one drawback with the larger caballito and mackerel is that they are well…large!  One big mistake is that anglers would think they had a hookup and swing to early.  There’s alot of smaller fish out there or larger fish that eat slowly!  Swinging too early and  the bait would literally get yanked out of the fish’s mouths or resulted in alot of short bites too where the gamefish only bit off the back half of the big bait.  We missed alot of fish that way.  Some of the more experienced anglers increased their hook-up to catch ratio by tying trailer/ trap hooks onto the main rig so that there would be a second hook dangling at the back-end of the baits.

But, overall, the La Paz fishing took care of everyone and got fish in the boat!

One of the nice thing about having our two fleets is that as Las Arenas fishing got slower or more frustrating, or the weather got more unpredictable, we could offer to have our folks fish with our La Paz fleet and get into the fish.  That made all the difference between big smiles or frowns!

WEATHER

Normally, this time of year, there’s not much to say about the weather.  The sun comes up.  The sun goes down.  It’s hot and sunny.  End of story.

However, this year, with El Nino, we’re seeing alot of variations.  Not only is the water warmer, but the tropical humidity and conditions are tangible.  The air is generally heavier and muggier.  We’re seeing afternoon tropical rain showers come through and sometimes drop considerable rain for a few minutes then move on and the ground steams dry.  We see electrical heat storms and lightning in the afternoons, evening and early morning hours when it’s still dark.   This is more like September and October weather.    Other days, there’s no rain, but it’s cloudy most days.  Almost like the “June gloom” seen along Southern California beaches where a marine layer moves in and everything is grey until the sun burns through in the afternoons.  Crazy.  That being said, it’s still 95-100 degrees every day with cooler evenings in the 70’s.

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 That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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

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

 

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