La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 9-16, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Triple catch. Daryl Martz with sons Allan and Dale show off some of their dorado caught with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.
One of the larger dorado models of the week! Good amigo, Dave Lindell, got this one out’ve Bahia Muertos. Dave lives in Pendleton, OR.
Julie and daugther, Kendall Millspaugh from Washington have been fishing with us for years and did pretty well on the dorado and pargo waiting on the fillet table!
His 2nd trip with us this year, fun amigo, John Washington from Carson City NV with captain Gerardo with dorado, palometa and pargo waiting for the ice chest.
Over the years, we’ve watched young Tanner Millspaugh grow up and now he’s ready to hit high school! Nice bull, Tanner!
Never a dull moment when Wiley Randolph is visiting us. He was fishing with Chito when he got this dorado.
Mike Hanson got one of the larger roosters of the week just off Punta Perrico. The fish was released.
Barry Matlack just had time to squeeze in one day of fishing and it paid off with a nice day of dorado including this legit bull mahi.
It takes two! Debbie and Steve Millspaugh have some nice dorado to show off and take home to Washington.
Unfortunately, because of the weather, Jacob and dad, Jeffrey Cooper only got in one good day of fishing, but had some good action with dorado, pargo and snapper. Jacob just returned from his mission and it was their first time visiting us. Only with the weather had cooperated more.
Allan Martz doesn’t see many fish where he lives in Boston!
A good day for Tanner and Travis Millspaugh. On the beach at Muertos Bay. Good to have the family back again. Always great to see them.
Ceci has way too much fun. One day fishing produced dorado and a marlin with Captain Alfredo.
Daryl Martz finally got his roosterfish for a quick photo and release.
Good to have these guys back to see us after a bit of absence! Jim Adair and Brad Baker had a good day on the dorado schools.
MIke and Kirsten Hanson from Oregon with Captain Gerardo got quite a bit of variety including dorado, palometa, sierra, cabrilla and pargo!
Another one for Tanner headed into the fish box!
Most of the week, it was pretty good fishing.
But, you can really tell things are changing sooner than normal. Air temps are cooler. There are more and stronger winds, especially from the north. The water is rougher and colder. The fishing and the fish are changing.
There are still warm water species. In fact, it was a pretty solid week of dorado fishing for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet although the better dorado fishing was with our La Paz fleet. Fish between 5 and 20 pounds were the norm and limits were not unusual. Fish could be found in a wide variety of areas and you could have a slow bite all day and then hit the spot and fill the fish box in one stop. Or, you might get single and double fish all day through the end of the day.
Billfish like marlin and sailfish are still around, but it was a slower week on these two species. After an incredible year with more billfish than I have ever seen, perhaps this is the last hurrah for sailfish and marlin.
The biggest indicator of change are, of course, the fish. More cooler water fish are showing up in the counts. Sierra, amberjack, yellowtail, pargo liso are usually fish we see in December or early spring. However, it seems every week we’re getting more of these types of fish.
It’s hard to put a finger on the fishing picture looking back this week. Three of the days were a write off.
Tropical Storm Pamela came up and dropped alot of rain on us. So, one day we had to cut the fishing short as it started getting too rough. The next day, we had to cancel all trips. The port captain shut down the port for safety reasons with 7-9’ swells and breaking waves slamming outside. After the storm, the weather remained erratic and winds continued to tear up the water. Bait became difficult to find. We had some of the worst fishing days of the year, where we had boats out, but it probably would have been best to just stay off the water. Just being honest.
The coming week shows no weather disturbances…so far. But we’ll keep an eye. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that things are changing and getting cooler.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 16-23, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Sherry Cady made me promise she’d make the fishing report this week with this beautiful big roosterfish she battled with Captain Pancho. So, here you go, Sherry! Nicely done and nice release too! Sherry is from Denver.
Big smiles and a big bull. Greg Saubolle has another one for the box.
Clair Olson and Mich Nekota have themselves a nice rack of dorado after a day of fishing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Might be one of my favorite photos of the year. John Sessums was on his first trip down with us and got his first roosterfish…finally! He was pretty happy! His biggest fish to that point. The rooster was released. Punta Perrico in the background.
Gary Okizaki from Cypress CA said “Dorado fishing this year was like the old days!” Great colors on this bull just outside of La Paz Bay.
From San Francisco, our amigo Paul Nagata, visits us each year and gets big fish and takes great photos. He did it again this year with an incredibly colorful bull mahi and an assist from Captain Pancho.
After visiting us for so many years, Tim Nishimura finally got a marlin plus a boatload of other species including dorado, pargo and snapper all on light tackle.
These two amigos had themselves a fun few days fishing with us the first time. Nate Odell gives his amigo, John Sessums a hand with his first marlin. It could not be released and meat was donated.
Now THIS is how to fish…a bottle of Don Julio in hand and an ice chest of great eating triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla ready to fillet!
Captain Joel gets a solo photo with a fish he gaffed for Gary and Danny Okazaki. They got 2 days of nice dorado limits.
Claire Olson and Greg Saubolle from the Bay Areas got more fish to add to the freezer wth 6 dorado and a couple of fat triggerfish they brought to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner.
Another of our fun Colorado friends, Ron Cady likes to bring his flyrod out and got into a couple of of fun dorado just outside of Bahia Muertos. He had a sailfish on the flyrod as well that straightened the hook!
Easy to get excited when a couple of tuna get hooked, but so far, except for a few stray individual fish, the tuna bite has just not happened this year although the guys got two chunky football YFT’s here.
Captain Armando has a knack for the billfish this year. In addition to two dorado, Bing Presnell also got this marlin. It could not be released and meat was donated.
Pretty water. Pretty fish. That’s what it’s like fishing for roosterfish this time of year. Ron poses with a big boy before letting it go. Looks like a lake.
First time new amigos from Washington, Terri Marshall and Tim Doyle have quite the variety on the cleaning table of dorado, pargo, snapper ,triggerfish and cabrilla.
One of our yearly amigos who has been visiting us for years, Danny Okazaki with one of his roosterfish caught right up against the rocks for the photo and release.
Captain Adolfo poses with Joe Brown’s marlin plus a big barred pargo and a double dorado. The meat was donated.
Steve never stops smiling. From Seattle, he’s visited us 3 times this year already and fishes for 6 days with his favorite Captain Jorge. He always chases the bigger and unusual fish, but this particular day he got a sole dorado and tries to hide it from the camera.
Here’s trouble…Andrew Harrison, Jon Eide and Captain Gerardo are a fun trio. Check it out…marlin, tuna, dorado, snapper, pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish. What a day!
Usually, after a big storm like Hurricane Olaf that hit us last week, it takes a week-or-so for the waters to get back in shape for fishing. Hurricane Olaf surprisingly turned into a Category 2 storm with up to 15 inches of rain in 20 hours and gusts of wind up to 150 mph.
That kind of storm churns the waters. There’s lots of mud and debris runoff into the ocean. Big current bring in dirtier and cooler water. There can be alot of stuff floating in the ocean and frankly the fish get lockjaw and we really have to work hard to find the bite.
However, surprisingly, the waters and fishing bounced back faster than expected. Not as good as before the hurricane, but the thankfully did come back so that at least anglers got into some action and everyone had fish to put in the boats and/or bring home.
Each day post Olaf, it seems to get a little better.
Dorado, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet are 90% of the catch with most fish about 10 pounds, but if you find the right spot, fish up to 20 or even 30 pounds are not uncommon. Quite a few fish are getting lost, but that’s part of the fun.
The dorado are not quite up-to-speed for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. One day, the dorado are there. Next day not so much. It’s up-and-down . Or, one boat finds a few dorado and others scratch to find even one dorado.
However, for both of our fleets, thankfully, there are other species willing to bite.
Healty-sized cabrilla, jack crevalle and some toad bonito provide lots of action as well as pargo, snapper and even some sierra, pompano, palometas and amberjack. Very unusual to catch sierra and amberjack this time of year as those are cooler water fish and we don’t see them until November or December. It leads me to believe that maybe waters are getting cooler.
Surprisingly, we still have roosterfish around which is quite late in the season. On light tackle, you can have fun all day along the beaches and rocky areas with 2-10 pound fish. However, some of the legit 30-50 pound fish are still cruising as well.
Additionally, marlin and sailfish are still getting hooked in numbers I have not seen in decades. It’s been like that all year. Most are getting released, but there’s sailfish, striped and blue marlin still biting and most are getting hooked on light tackle.
We did get a few tuna this week. Just a little jag of 30-pound fish that got everyone excited. We also got a wahoo. But, overall, there’s been a dearth of both species this season. Maybe, they’ll kick in soon.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for week of Sept. 1-7, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Nice haul of fish! Captain Armando put Mitch and Ron on a nice jag of dorado and big bonito at Bahia Muertos.
Great shot and nice dorado for our first-timer, Leon Miguel from Woodland WA. The dorado bite finally kicked in this week.
Jeremiah and Tiffany Page have a good start to their fishing week with a variety of fish including dorado, pargo, cabrilla, palometa, and snapper.
Mitch Gayman from Lake Elsinore CA with Captain Armando pose with a big sailfish Mitch hooked on a live bait and light tackle. Sailfish and marlin hook-ups increased this week! Mitch released the fish!
Some nice Las Arenas dorado for the fish box for Aiden Florence visiting with his dad for the first time from Kansas.
Roosterfish were often and willing this week. Frank Howald caught and released this guy outside of Bahia Muertos.
Staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos, nice bull dorado for Rick Harley from Salt Lake City, UT.
Jim Bovee from San Diego loves his dorado fishing. On his 3rd visit this year had had some great days in the mahi schools. Sizeable bull here caught north of La Paz.
Just a great photo and expression from Starr Jenkins with her first marlin. Captain lends a hand. They released the fish.
Daniel Bovee chases big fish everytime he visits us. He got the lone wahoo of the week off Cerralvo Island.
That’s a handful! Steve Avery caught several roosters during his week with us. All released.
Ted Kunze from Arizona and Tom Epps from Michigan had quite a variety of fish with Captain Jorge including palometa, cabrilla, triggerfish and snapper.
Brian Barney gives a thumbs-up to his catch wit John Sedovy and a cleaning table full of dorado, trigger and palometa.
Joaquin Perea just enjoys being down here and on the water no matter what! Always good to see him and he’s always on fish like this rooster…caught…photo’d …released!
He just had one day to visit us and fish, but Steve Summers caught roosterfish, dorado and several other species. All the roosters were released.
Good double-shot of dorado with Ron Sierzega from AZ and Mitch Gayman from CA. They had some nice days fishing with us and plugged the boxes.
Captain Alfredo tail holds Eric Jenkin’s dorado that he’ll add to a full box of mahi!
Some good eating! Captain Armando gives Leon a hand with a dorado and some tasty palometas.
Not a nicer guy to visit us every year with his family and friends. Adam Florence from Kansas poses with one of his roosterfish that he quickly released.
Captain Luis looks on while Joaquin poses with another dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet.
All the way from Ohio, Jodi and Daren Archer on their first visit to La Paz fished with Captain Jorge and produced some good dorado meat for the freezer.
All the way from the Memphis area on a first-time visit, Jason Jones with one of the larger roosterfish of the week caught and released.
Great fun on light tackle spinning rods for Curt and Brent with soe pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish headed for the cooler.
Captain Pancho gives Aiden a hand with one of his roosters before letting it go.
Brandon Mauch from San Diego and is amigo, Garry Coles from Washington State fished with Captain Gerardo and rocked a pair or dorado.
Kristy Summers and Captain Jorge have big smiles for a big roosterfish…her first. Also released. She also caught dorado that they brought over to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner.
Starr Jenkins has another mahi on the gaff with Captain Alfredo.
Jim with two more dorado for the ice chest! It was a good week. He also released two sailfish.
After hurricane Nora brushed by us last week and being mostly benign, I initially thought that fishing would rebound pretty fast because, despite having to cancel only 1 day of fishing, Nora only hit us with some strong winds and waves. But, no rain or lasting weather glitches.
However, the fishing took longer than I thought to come back. Lingering winds and cooler waters kept fishing less-than-stellar. In fact, a week later, it’s quite breezy and much cooler these last few days.
So, it was somewhat picky fishing for most of the week.
Everyone caught fish, but our captains and anglers had to really work hard to find fish.
There was a smattering of dorado here and there. Most were no more than 10-15 pound fish. The rest of the catch was mainly cabrilla, pargo, snapper, jack crevalle and bonito. Occasionally a billfish was hooked. Roosterfish kept alot of our fishermen in the game, thankfully. Fun fishing, but honestly pretty picky.
However, late in the week, the fish seemed to wake up and remember to eat!
Dorado started to school up again instead of singular fish here and there. More limits started coming in. Larger fish up to maybe 20-25 pounds got into the counts. Sailfish and marlin got more cooperative as well with a number of fish hooked, released and often lost on light tackle. We even had several wahoo hook-ups. Along with the roosterfish in the 10-40 pound class, mixed with the inshore species of bonito, jacks, cabrilla, snapper and pargo…and even some sierra and small yellowtail, the action had increased three-fold. Many many more smiles for sure. Almost all the billfish and all of the roosterfish were released.
Even had a couple of football-sized yellowfin tuna show up as well. Hopefully, more to follow. These are the first tuna we’ve seen since early summer!
Eric Jenkins rocked a sole yellowfin tuna with Captain Armando
There’s some thundercloud and late rains expected this week, but mostly all after the fishing is done. It feels like we’re getting an early fall and that summer has passed us as temperatures and humidity have decreased remarkably. Prior to that, it has felt like a sauna many times.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 25-31, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First marlin is a blue! Dan Dorati with Captain Armando and Dan’s first marlin.
Tony Toven from Sylmar CA was fishing a live sardine when this nice wahoo bit not far off Cerralvo Island.
Double-fist roosters for Kincaid Hancock and his dad, Tommy, from San Diego. It was Kincaid’s first-time fishing on salt water. Both fish ate live sardines and both were released.
Austin Dorati puts another dorado in the box.
Patrick Busby from Louisiana battled this striped marlin on 20 pound test and a light 8-foot spinning outfit for an hour-and-a-half. He was fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz. They were fishing light tackle in a school of dorado when the marlin bit.
Captain Rogelio gives Kincaid Hancock a hand with this dorado photo. It was Kincaid’s first salt-water trip. He’s from San Diego.
Tommy has another rooster for the camera. Catch-and-release!
One of the nicest guys to visit, great shot of Andy Lauber who fished with light tackle all week. All roosters were released.
Compared to last week, fishing was remarkably improved on so many levels . For both our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, the bite improved the further away we got from the last week’s full moon as well as the remnants of 3 storms that brushed us, Lynda, Kevin and Marty that didn’t actually hit us, but their effects on the waves, currents and winds added to the full moon affects. Hence, I think that’s why the fishing was off.
However, this week, the roosterfish over at Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay were back on track with quite a bit of catch-and-release fish running up to about 30 pounds and the fish willing to hit live bait.
If you fished the inshore as well as the rocks and reefs, there were plenty of snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, pargo, jack crevalle and other species to make for hours-of-action, if that’s what you wanted to do, especially on light tackle.
The most marked improvement was with the pelagic species. Still no tuna this year, but we did have some wahoo strikes. Marlin and sailfish also picked up with fish getting hooked daily. Some boats getting multiple strikes. Most fish released or breaking off.
Best of all, the dorado were much more cooperative for both of our fleets. Most fish were that fun 10-20 pound size and limits were not uncommon. Some of the dorado were biting right in the bay not far from in front of the hotels and Malecon.
Interestingly, we got some sierra and yellowtail in the counts. Those are usually colder water fish we don’t see until winter or spring.
A good part of the days of the week, we spent watching the track of Hurricane Norma. It had alot of us prepping to get hit as it came north towards Baja with winds predicted up to 90 mph. We were pretty sure we were in for several days of winds and rain. However, we were fortunate in that Nora bent easterly and veered towards the mainland instead.
We got some strong winds, but otherwise dodged a bullet.
We had to cancel fishing one day because the port captain shut things down, but we were able to get back on the water the next day. I am always worried after a storm comes through wondering how it would affect fishing. Sometimes, it takes more than a few days for the fish and waters to get back on track especially since the fishing had been pretty steady.
However, the storms didn’t do as much as anticipated and fish seemed to be willing to bite again after the storm.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 18-24, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Bob and Lisa Foster from Idaho. Bob got the dorado and Lisa battled the marlin…her first. They also released a bunch of fish as well.
Our poster-girl of the week, Taryn Mitoma, is about to start her 2nd year at UC Davis and came down with dad for a few days of fishing. Captain Alfredo lends a hand with one of her dorado.
Bob Cowan has come down several times and had billfish on the line only to lose them. This one ate a tiny sardine on light tackle and Bob had his hands full, but finally landed the sailfish. Captain Joel helps out. The fish could not be released.
We have watched 17-year-old Sean Rose from Washington grow up over the years and he’s now a high school senior then heading into the navy. He has been coming for years with his dad and shows off his first-day dorado.
Taryn and dad, Ed “Beaver” Mitoma with a couple of fun light tackle roosters caught and released.
Big smiles from Jeff Loh and Bob Cowan with a couple of fresh dorado for the box.
Not much to tell. Coupled with some big swell and winds left over from Hurricane Lynda and Kevin that barely touched us and moved outside to the south, it still pushed a tad of rain plus some erratic water conditions. Then, the full moon came up on us. Kinda of a triple whammy on the fishing.
Oh, and then were was Tropical Storm Marty that poked it’s head in as well for an afternoon.
Rain across the bay. Lightning in there too!
Everyone got fish, but we had to work hard for it and the fish themselves were picky.
Most of the bite for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet continued to be dorado up to about 20-pounds. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had a smattering of dorado, but also roosterfish were more prevalent. Along the rocks, pargo and cabrilla were more than willing to chew. Also, still a good number of sailfish and marlin here and there.
Jeff Loh goofing with one of his dorado!
Interestingly, there were some sierra and yellowtail caught. Very strange since those are cooler water fish and it’s still August. Normally, sierra show up about November. Yellowtail are a winter/ spring fish! Just adds to a weird year!
Other than that, to be perfect honest, it was a bit slow. We’ve surely seen better. And things always change down here!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2021
The Mexican Minute Video Report
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
We had a few short, but strong rainstorms blow through this past week.
Shelton Donnell, our long-time amigo, is always good to see in La Paz. He’s from Portland and had a nice few days and took home a nice chest of dorado.
There’s still nice roosterfish around . Paul Di Gaudio and his amigo caught and released 6 roosters on this particular day. Paul is from Corona CA.
It’s like fishing in an aquarium if you go for the reefs and rocks holding snapper, cabrilla, pargo and others. All great eating. Captain Joel in the middle with Jeffrey and Miles Brown from Oregon who hit the rocks with light tackle north of La Paz.
Smiles say it all. We’ve watched these two grow up for many years! Cortez and Sierra Sanchez came to see us from Colorado, but have been fishing Baja since they could walk! Nice dorado to take home to mom and dad.
Beto Chavez on his first trip to visit us shows off one of his several dorado. He says he’s coming back soon!
Mike O’Connell had a kick fishing with us for the first time and shows off his largest dorado of a 3-day trip.
Oh just too much fun for Gaby Donnell with another dorado for the box! She’s way fun!
A long way from Wisconsin, but he visits us every year and always does well. Jeff Brown with one of his dorado. Check those rain clouds in the back.
It was kind of an unremarkable in a good way this past week. The fish bit and everyone had fun!
The only issue was really the weather. We had tropical storms Kevin and Linda…and Linda turned into a Category 3 hurricane. However, they were far far outside and to the south and never threatened anything. However, both did send over some afternoon thundershowers that kept us on our toes wondering how it would affect the fishing.
Some of the thundershowers were torrential and caused widespread flooding even though the rain storm might have only been for 15 minutes to an hour. And, as often happens with our rain, it can rain really hard in one spot, but down the highway or across the bay, they are dry and in sunshine. Or you can be out on the water in sunny weather, but you can see columns of rain in the distance. Sometimes, it’s so hot, you actually want to drive the boat through the rain to cool off.
The good thing about the rain storms was that there wasn’t alot of wind. In fact, the seas stayed flat. So, even if it was raining or drizzling, we could still fish and actually it was quite comfortable.
Fishing-wise…our Las Arenas Tailhunter fleet still kept kicking out roosterfish between 10 and 50 pounds. Plus cabrilla, pargo, jack crevalle, snapper and bonito.
We SHOULD be finding tuna about now and also there should be more wahoo in the counts, but neither has materialized so far. Could start anytime. We hope!
For our Tailhunter La Paz fleet…well, dorado are 90% of the catch. Fun-sized fish running about 10-15 pounds mostly with some bigger bulls mixed in. Plus there’s still a far amount of billfish…striped marlin and sailfish getting hooked. All the fish this week were released or broke off as they were all larger fish on lighter tackle.
PASSPORT ISSUES
If you’re waiting for a passport renewal or a new passport for someone, it would be a good idea to check on it ASAP if you’ve got a pending trip. Just like last year, it appears the U.S. passport office is slowing processing so even if you expedite things, chances are it’s gonna take alot longer than anticipated. Don’t wait until the last minute to find out your passport won’t arrive on time!
Yes…even Spiderman needs to get his passport renewed.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 18-24, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Hector Chacon from Arcadia CA used to visit us every year for many years, but missed the last 5. He finally made it back to us and started out with a nice catch-and-release roosterfish fishing with Captain Jorge.
Tannier Pierson from San Diego was a billfish magnet for a few days. I think I heard he hooked one or two billfish a day including this one with Captain Pancho. All were released or broke off.
Smiles say it all. Megan Graves from San Diego while staying at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos poses with a fresh bull mahi.
One of the nicest all-time amigos, Rafael Rios fishing every year with us and hails from Corpus Christi TX. Good way to start the say with an early morning bull mahi! Pretty shot. We cooked up a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Sea Level Restaurant.
He said it was his best fishing day ever. Captain Raul lends a hand. They also caught dorado.
Catching a marlin is quite a feat. Catching one on a flyrod is incredible, but that’s what Greg Wetherbee from Colorado did with this pretty fish and Captain Rogelio. Greg Released the fish and over 5 days with his flyrod also caught numerous roosterfish, jacks, bonito, dorado and others. All released.
Just one day to squeeze in a day of fishing with us, Howie Cohen, had some fun with 4 droado plus snapper and cabrilla. Howie is from Alpine CA. He was fishing around Espirito Santo Island with Captain Raul.
Dan Jenkins staying at Rancho Costa Resort at Bahia Muertos looks pretty happy with his roosterfish! The fish was released.
Captain Gerardo with Wally Graves (the one smiling) and a nice marlin for the photos before a good release. Nice photo!
Hector says his dad, Richard Chacon, caught all the fish! Nice rack…dorado, snapper and huge triggerfish!
YEOW! This looks like a mutant! I wish Tim Dumler had a scale to put this fish on. What a dorado!
Greg has another one on the flyrod. This one a colorful dorado and then the meat donated.
It wasn’t a spectacular week of fishing by any means, but it was a good solid fun summer week fishing. Even with a full moon. Just fun! No real surprises. Everyone who wanted fish caught fish. Everyone who wanted to bring home fish, brought home fish. Everyone who wanted to bring some fish to have cooked up back on shore, had fish to cook up.
Some folks caught the bucket list they always wanted. For some, it was a billfish like a marlin or a sailfish. For others it was that first roosterfish. For others, they targeted dorado. If it wasn’t their bucket list fish, for some, it was the biggest fish they had every caught.
Indeed, roosterfish, marlin and dorado were the three pre-dominant species of the week. But the action was rounded out with good rod-bending on jack crevalle, bonito, triggerfish, cabrilla, pargo and snapper. Bait was not an issue.
Lots of smiles and good action. Can’t ask for more!
If anything, the biggest issue we had was mid-week when a hurricane way way way down south and headed out to Hawaii sent some big swells up the Sea of Cortez making it more than a bit bump and rough for our boats fishing out of La Arenas and damping down the bite. Conversely, the more protected waters north of La Paz produced better fishing during those days. When the seas calmed down so did the bite and right back to normal.
It’s really HOT and humid these days. Anyone coming down is advised to stay hydrated! Not kidding. Easy to get sick if you’re not drinking lots of water. Unfortunately, beer and margaritas don’t count!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 2-9, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
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NOTE: MARLIN and SAILFISH PHOTOS! Folks…before you send me e-mails or post up hate messages, please take notice that there are ALOT of billfish photos in this report. These represent perhaps 5% of the billfish that our fishing fleet hooked this past week. There are THAT many billfish out there. Some days, the waters are thick with billfish. Many times our anglers are NOT trying to catch billfish. But the billfish are biting. The vast majority of the fish that we hook are released by our anglers or (being big fish), they break off or get unhooked). In many cases, the billfish you see here were unable to be released or, after the photo was taken, the fish were indeed returned to the water. In many cases, when the fish was not or could not be released, the meat was donated to local folks who were very grateful for the meat. But, that being said, anglers are entitled to keep a billfish if they did want to keep one and we are very stringent about never exceeding the billfish limits.
One guy who loves to fish light tackle is our amigo, Bennett Clegg from the East Bay Area of San Francisco. Nice fat roosterfish. A quick photo and a good release!
Speaking of releasing fish, Mark Bonsack from Washington is one of our frequent amigos and a solid angler. He and Captain Pancho release a blue marlin that Pancho estimated went between 250 and 300 pounds.
Our own! Had a great week of fishing. Our son, Jarrett Pfost from Lakeside CA and his wife, Diana, with a big boy bull dorado she hooked and fought north of La Paz with Captain Chito.
Our Utah amigo, Monte Aldridge, made a last minute trip to come visit us and shows off one of 3 marlin he hooked and released while fishing with Captain Armando.
Texas in the house! Big smile from young Drake Rowland with a feisty roosterfish. The fish was released.
That’s a great eating mess o’ fish! Cathy and Dave Boos with a cleaning table full of dorado, snapper, cabrilla, pargo and triggerfish!
Impressively done! Patrick-Ewick-Chouinard from New Jersey is 11-years-old and battled this big bull dorado all by himself. Posing here on the beach with Captain Adolfo! He later hooked a marlin as well.
Our boy, Jarrett put this colorful bull on the deck. Check the colors! Jarrett caught this dorado off a string of sargasso paddies between North Cerralvo Island and Punta Gorda.
Won’t find a sweeter lady than Dolores Ehlers who loves fishing with Captain Pancho. Dolores is from Colorado and has fished with us for years.
Captain Gerardo poses with our good friends, John and Arla Washington from Carson City NV who put a marlin, some cabrilla, snapper and pargo fillets in the box. Most of the meat was donated.
Captain Armando and Jonathan Strain visiting us for the first time on a trip that was delayed from last year because of Covid, but made up for with numerous marlin over 3 days of fishing including this thick one. Almost all the marlin were released.
More good Utah friends, brothers John and Bic Lesser with Captain Jorge and John’s first marlin plus some snapper on the table. First time trip for John and Bic.
Alicia Clegg is one of the best roosterfish anglers we see here every year and this gal can fish! Another rooster in the boat for a quick photo before release.
Cathy Boos so wanted a billfish! Well, she hooked two on this particular day and fought this one close to two hours. The fish could not be released. Dave helps with the photo.
Captain Pancho with a smiling Jas and her first roosterfish. First-time ever fishing! The rooster was released.
What a beast! Phil has himself a monster pompano.
Keith Hemstreet from Washington State had been thwarted on several trips to hook a roosterfish. Well, his first was a dandy! Captain Pancho estimated the fish to be about 80 pounds and was released.
Steve Strain had a marlin magnet in his back pocket! Everytime he put a hook in the water, the marlin couldn’t help themselves. With Captain Joel around Espirito Santo Island. Steve’s birthday trip!
Silas Bartlet visiting us from Texas has himself a nice roosterfish off the rocks for a quick photo and release.
One of the rare days that we could get out far to where we’ve seen tuna about 15-18 miles offshore, Mark Bonsack and Keith Hemstreet found all the football tuna the could handle. Actually, ran out’ve bait! After this, the days got too windy to go out there.
Hi Diana! Great smile to go with the great fish! Another roosterfish catch-and-release!
Captain Gerardo with Cody Robinson and his first marlin. Cody donated the fish. His first time with us!
Mark always does well with us and always wears the same lucky shirt every year. I think it’s the camo pattern that does it. He’s also a pretty good fisherman! The rooster was released.
Now here’s a nice variety catch! Monte and Captain Armando with dorado, big fat triggerfish, pargo and cabrilla are definitely going into the ice chest.
Another successful CPR! Catch. Photo. Release. My guy, Jarrett Pfost.
You would think Spiderman took a day off and went fishing, but that’s Monte Aldridge under there with another marlin for a quick photo and release. Tough to see from this angle, but I almost thought this might be a short-billed spearfish or white marlin, but just speculating.
It’s Mark’s camo shirt. That’s the secret. Dorado going back to Washington with him.
Anytime a big storm blows through, I’m always a bit tenuous about the bite in the aftermath. About 2 weeks ago, Tropical Storm Enrique tracked through La Paz with enough wind and rain to cause the port captain to shut things down and keep boats off the water.
Post-storm, you just don’t know how the waters are affected.
Heavy rain waters cause run-off into the ocean which produces dirty cloudy water. High winds can further stir things up and enough wind can cause cold water up-wellings from deeper water at worst and create bumps post-storm wave action at best. Winds can also change currents and disturb the bait stocks.
There’s alot of variables. Any one can significantly affect the bite. Any combination of those variables could completely crush the bite.
Prior to the storm, we had an incredible marlin bite going full speed. Dorado were voracious. Roosterfish were hungry and huge.
So, with some trepidation, we got our boats back on the water.
Surprisingly, the conditions didn’t take that long to start producing again. With each passing day after the departure of the storm, conditions improved and not surprisingly so did the bite.
Dorado in the 20-40 pound class were not as numerous and had gotten scattered, but were definitely around. Big roosterfish continued to prowl the shallows with fish up to 80 pounds although most were safely 20-40 pounders. Plenty big on light tackle.
Marlin were frenzied at times with pangas getting numerous hook-ups. Stripers up to 120 pounds; sailfish mixed in up to 80 pounds and even some sizable blues up to 300 pounds readily picked up live bait, dead bait and lures.
Inshore action remained steady with snapper, huachinango, pargo and cabrilla with a good dose of triggerfish mixed in. Big bonito and jack crevalle were fun feisty pests.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 24- July 1, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Enrique was the first big storm of the season. It started as a hurricane, but thankfully petered to a tropical storm by the time it hit La Paz.
Enrique did alot more damage to the south of us along mainland Mexico. By the time it hit La Paz it was alot milder.
By the time Enrique hit La Paz it had lost of of it’s force, but enough to bring several days of strong winds.
…and enough rain to get things wet and lose electrical power in La Paz for a few hours.
We launch our Las Arenas boats in Bahia Muertos / Suenos and this is what it normally looks like 99% of the time.
This is what Bahia Muertos looked like several days this week as a result of Enrique.
Our Utah amigo, Jason Kocherans makes a great photo of this great roosterfish caught just off the beach at Las Arenas. The Arenas lighthouse is in the distance. The fish was released.
Captain Victor with Brian Tippie with his uncle Ron Tippie who came all the way from Illinois and started their fishing week with a trio of bull dorado.
Our long-time Tailhunter amigo, Terry Biggs from northern California with a nice cabrilla to put in the fish box.
Great shot and a colorful bull dorado for Dave Martin who always seems to get a trophy fish every time he visits us from Utah.
Jason has another rooster off the surf. Great colors! The fish was released.
Dave Martin has another big boy rooster in the boat taken with live bait before the photo and release.
The week started well-enough.
We were catching fish. The marlin were still blowing up nicely to the point of being bothersome. Big roosterfish were still prowling the beach. Our pangas were coming back daily with some nice dorado mixed with pargo, cabrilla, jacks, triggers, bonito and other species.
It was going pretty well.
Until Enrique showed up on the radar down the coast. We watched it slowly make its way up the coast. Initially, it started as a Category 1 hurricane. It did a bit of battering the mainland Mexico coast to the south of us with flooding, rains, high seas and big winds.
With each day it moved closer to us from the south. Some predictions had it missing us. Others had our directly in its path. By the time it reached us mid-week, it had lost much of it’s force and had diminished to a tropical storm.
Ultimately, it wasn’t too bad. We had to cancel the fishing for 3 days as big waves, gusting winds and intermittent rain hit us. But no real damage or flooding. It was just enough to keep everyone indoors and the boats on trailers or on the beach. We were lucky. We’ve seen what big hurricanes can do over the years.
However, we don’t know what the after-effects will be. At the time of this writing, we’re just getting back on the water. Normally, it takes a few days for the waters to settle down again. It takes a few days for the water to clear up. It takes a few days for the fish to get back on track. It all depends on how much the winds and water-run-off affected the water.
We’ll just have to see. The week looks like we could still be in for a bit of wind on the backside of the storm.
By the way, not as many…in fact NONE…no marlin photos this week compared to the previous week. There’s several reasons for that. The marlin were biting pretty crazy again, but for one, pretty much all the fish got released and just no one really took photos. Or, the marlin broke off and no one took photos! But, we definitely had marlin swimming around again this week…at least before the storm came through.
PEZ GRINGO GROUP
This group of our amigos has been coming to see us for about 20 years. All the do is fish hard for roosterfish. And they DO know how to fish ’em. This year, only 3 of them made the trip. Donnie Willson, Ron Burgess and Dave Lester. All of them are from Temecula CA.
Several years ago, they caught and released one rooster that many observers theorized would have broken the 114-pound world record.
This year…
Over 4 days, they caught AND RELEASED 16 roosterfish. Three guys…
In other years, they have caught more roosters. However, as they told me, they told me they have never caught so many BIG roosterfish. Check out the photos of some of their fish. I think their smallest fish were in the 40-pound class. Their largest…maybe around the 100-pound mark.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 1-7, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dave Lindell has visited us many times over the years and always finds a good fish or two, like this nice roosterfish he caught and released with Captain Armando outside of Bahia Muertos. Dave is from Pendleton, Oregon.
Just a great shot! Big bulls in the hands of our San Diego amigos. Ryan Brock, John Stone and Jeff Correia ran into a nice school of dorado north of La Paz. There were more fish in the box.
Coral Hart always insists she catches more and bigger fish than husband, Jeremy.
We still have some nice grade pompano hanging out in our waters. John Stone is taking this one home.
Captain Jorge has a thumbs-up for Darren Robinson’s snapper that’s going to get added to the fish box for the day.
Dr. James Good from Denver just has too much fun! This particular day he hooked over 20 dorado and released most of them, but this huge bull is coming back to the freezer.
This is as good a photo as it gets. This is Baja. Just a pretty shot of our amigo from Denver, John Lowdermilk and his roosterfish. Fish was released.
Her biggest fish, gets a hand from Captain Alfredo for the photo. Tricia Kidman from Salt Lake City is all smiles.
Pound-for-pound maybe the toughest fighting fish we have down here, especially when they are horse-sized like this bonito caught by Darren Robinson.
One lonely tuna caught at the south end of Cerralvo Island got us all excited. Other fish were seen, but weren’t interested. Frankly, I think the fish was attracted to Bill Johnson’ great fishing shirt! Bill is another of our amigos from Denver.
A graduation trip after he just finished up at Texas A & M and starts work this summer, Quinn Mattson has double fisted dorado in hand .
Yes, marlin have started to show up finally. Tim Dummler with a pretty catch-and-release of this billfish.
Visiting us for the first time from Florida where he’s a professional chef, Preston Hix got into the dorado bite north of La Paz.
Another of our new Tailhunter amigos visiting for the first time, Brent Wischnack had a great few days with us and gets a quick photo with Captain Joel and a pair of nice dorado.
All the way from Massachusetts, Rich England’s day produced alot of action including several catch-and-release roosterfish like this one!
Alway fun. He never has a bad day, Rick Kasper (right) with amigo, Steve Shaolin, pose with 4 of their dorado headed to the freezers.
David Mkrtychev got his first roosterfish this trip fishing just outside of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
A tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, John Stone adds this nice pargo to the fish box.
Alex Golubev has two more dorado to bring back to shore after fishing in the channel between Las Cruces and Cerralvo Island.
Steve Seeley’s first day and first trip to see us produced 5 roosterfish. All were released.
Gary Wagner has a knack for hitting big cabrilla out’ve the rocks and reefs around his place at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos.
Texas in the house! Duane and Quinn Mattson have some meat to take home!
Overall, the fishing just got one week better than last week and that week was one of the best period of fishing we have had in a long time. With great sunny weather and water’s continuing to warm and clear up, the schools of dorado around Espirito Santo Island and in the channel between the peninsula and the northern part of Cerralvo Island continued to be the main focus.
The dorado bite is producing some of the biggest and most plentiful dorado we have seen in years. Alot of that probably has much to do with the lack of fishing all last year during the pandemic. Fish this time of year are normally averaging about 10 pounds. This year, most fish are 20-40 pounders.
Sometimes, the bite starts slow and it takes a bit to find the right spot or right school. Some boats might do better than others on any given day. However, overall, limits or near limits of dorado are typical.
In addition to the dorado, numerous other species continue to help bed rods and produce alot of variety. Most encouraging are the marlin that we’re starting to see in our waters plus a smattering of tuna and wahoo.
Onto that, add in roosterfish between 10 and 50 pounds near the shores (all released); some huge bonito; jack crevalle, pargo, amberjack, the occasional yellowtail and sierra, pompano, trevally, rainbow runner, grouper and snapper and folks are getting plenty of action.
This week, American Airlines initiated the first direct flights into La Paz from the U.S from Dallas and Phoenix. These flights will continue until the beginning of September. This is the first time in almost a decade that we have direct flights from the U.S. to La Paz.
Note: Michael Wilson, if you read this, please e-mail me: Jonathan@tailhunter.com. Send me your e-mail address.
Tailhunter Fish Report 