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Posted in Uncategorized on November 15, 2008| Leave a Comment »

A mixed bag of fishing this week. Air has dropped into the 80’s now and water temperatures are slipping as well. For sure, the seasons are transitioning and it seems to be reflected in the fishing and the fish, not to mention it’s like someone threw a switch…there’s very few fishermen now!

Anyway, the breezes are starting to pick up with more regularity now and daily that dictates where and how we fish as well as where we get bait and what types of bait we’ll have for the day. All these variables go into what the daily catch is like.

There’s quite a variety actually.

Surface blue-water species like dorado are still around and you can surely run into a breezing school or two still hanging out in the warmer waters. Likewise, marlin, some tuna and the occasional wahool are still here also. It’s really hard to tell. A few weeks ago when we had 20 boats on the water each day, it gives you a good idea of what’s happening out there. But when there’s only a boat or two out each day, it’s hard to get a complete idea. Like wahoo…the situation is ideal right now, but unless there’s a ton of guys fishing for them, the wahoo could be balled up RIGHT THERE, but no one will know about it!

Anyway, inshore or on those days when the winds are blowing, the inside bite is pretty good. Sierra are more in abundance, but we’re also seeing more pargo and cabrilla too.

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Posted in Uncategorized on November 9, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Al Tesoro and Richard Onishi make several trips a year to La Paz and got a variety of fish this past week typical of fishing right now including some tuna, dorado, rockfish and these nice pargo liso (red ones) and a nice cabrilla. While most anglers come to La Paz during the springtime to fish the coveted pargo, the fall is also a good time to get into these tough fish.

WAHOO AND DORADO GO OFF DESPITE WINDS AND NOT MANY ANGLERS THESE DAYS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 2-9. 2008

PHOTO 2: Better quality dorado came up early this week again. This is our amigo, Al Tesoro with some nice fish headed to the filet boards. These late season dorado are a real treat. Water temperatures are dropping and winds are becoming more prevailant so we don’t know how much longer they’ll be in our area.

PHOTO 3: Spent a good portion of the week working in Cabo San Lucas at the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tourament. What a great time! Check this out: http://www.wonews.com/t-BajaReport-cabojackpot.aspx There were 98 teams this year from all over the country. Above is the team from the boat “Bottom Line” after the first of two days fishing. They did not have the largest fish of the tournament, but because of all side pot jackpots they entered, they went home with more than 270 thousand dollars. Largest fish was caught on the boat “Redrum” which was a 244 pound yellowfin tuna. However, they were not entered into all the jackpots they won “only” about 70 thosand dollars. A 40 pound dorado won that particular category and was worth a nice 64 thousand dollars.

PHOTO 5: On hand at the tuna tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Corona Beer sent the Corona girls to work at the weigh station to lend some color and smiles to the event. I never got her name, but she was a good sport about this photo. I”m 5′ 4″ tall. She’s 6’3″ tall and it made for a funny photo!
THE FISHING REPORT

Wow! Talk about late season surprises. Here I am thinking that things have pretty much turned the corner and calmed down for the season and that our blue water bite has played itself out. All of a sudden, wahoo don’t just show up…they BLOW UP!

In perhaps one of the best remembered wahoo bites, areas around Cerralvo Island and especially at the north point were boiling with wahoo. Bite of a lifetime!!!! Fish from 30-70 pounds were not uncommon and eating trolled Rapalas and Yo-Zuri’s in the darker colors but were also schooling up enough to throw the wahoo bombs as well. Some boats took 2, 3 or more fish.

The biggest problem was knowing when to go. You had to leave early whether you fished out of La Paz or Las Arenas because you’re looking at more than 90 minutes of running time across the channel and (here’s the rub)…that’s if it was calm! The winds are blowing more consistently these days and it made for either a rough ride or you simply could not make it and had to turn around. Wasted day! But that’s the chance you took. The payout was well worth it if you hit it on the right day!

In addition to the wahoo, yellowfun tuna in the 10-30 pound class were in the same northern areas of Cerralvo and both fleets also produced a good smattering of dorado. In fact, some really nice quality fish up to 40 pounds were not uncommon, but you could find yourself in a full-on dorado ripper with fish all around the boat. Or…you could spend the day hitting one or two fish here and there and realize at the end of the day that you had a full fish box.

Inshore fishing seems to be getting better. Surprisingly, there’s still roosterfish around and in the rocks, cabrilla and pargo are becoming more active…or maybe more anglers are just fishing for them. However, this time of year always seems a good bet to fish inshore. If the winds are blowing it’s a great alternative for action.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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Posted in Uncategorized on November 1, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: After an absence of a few seasons, our buddy John Tessman from Fallbrook CA came down for an extended stay which was rewarded by possibly some of the larger dorado we’ve seen in a few weeks. This 35 pound class bull ate a slow trolled strip of dead bonito just east of Espiritu Santo Island east of La Paz.

WATERS IN TRANSITION ARE A BIT STINGY WITH FISH EARLY IN THE WEEK BUT GET MORE GENEROUS LATER IN THE WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Nov. 2, 2008

PHOTO 2: Early in the week, it was rough going, but some of the boats made it to the northern end of Cerralvo Island where an elusive tuna school with 25-pound class fish have been holding. Shown here (L-R) Tony Bretz, Captain Panchito, Bryant Bushman hold up a nice trio of yellowfin.

PHOTO 3: Jill Stevens now living most of the year in La Paz, was dragging a big sardine behind the panga and noticed a flash of color right off the transom and realized a nice dorado was lazily swimming behind the boat. It turned suddenly and whacked her sardine. Fish on!

PHOTO 4: Tony Bretz holds up one of the larger dorado taken out of Las Arenas/ Muertos early in the week. There weren’t many fish of this size and fishing seemed to be inconsistently biting. One day, they’d readily chew and the next day, you really had to work at it.

PHOTO 5: Hard to believe, but there’s still roosterfish along the beaches. Monique Wicks all the way from Alaska got this silver pez gallo just out of Muertos Bay and released it. The fish are in small schools along the beaches. Larger fish are roaming right on the edge of the drop offs.

PHOTO 6: Check out this nice yellowfin tuna. Our amiga, Cheryl Atkinson, does the honors. The fish was taken on bait at Punta Norte of Cerralvo Island. It’s almost a 2 hour ride up the channel from where we launch our boats at Muertos Bay…well worth it if the fish are there and the winds are down. If not, it’s a long rough and wet ride.
WEEKLY VIDEO
Some great on-the-water-shots this week of dorado fishing off the east side of Espiritu Santo Island just north of La Paz. Turn up the sound and click this:

THE FISHING REPORT

The week started off full of questions as seasonal northern winds started up and roughed up the waters a bit. Bait got tough as well. Fish weren’t exactly very cooperative. Howver, as the week went on, things got more promising. Seas flattened a tad. Some tuna showed up at the north end of Cerralvo Island again. Larger dorado got more lively in the channel between the islands where even some of the smaller fish this week were twice as big as some of the largest fish we had the last few weeks. Cabrilla and even pargo and roosterfish got more active as well around our Las Arenas beaches as well. The season is definitely changing, but there’s still a lot of fish to catch.

You can feel things changing. We’re definitely in the transition right now. This is normal and it came a bit early this year. Sure is a lot of variety in terms of fish. Pretty much a little of everything is around. dorado are still the predominant species, but if you’re flexible, there’s quite a range.

WE MADE THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Well, one of our good amigos, Stacy Amos from Harbor City made the L.A. Times webpage. Click this and check it out: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/10/monstrous-squid.html Pete Thomas writes up a nice piece about the giant squid.

BOOKINGS FOR 2009

We’re already getting quite a few bookings for the 2009 season. Prime dates and our captains are still available, but some are already getting closed out. Give it some thought and get in touch with us as soon as you can. We want to make sure we take care of you and give you the first shot at your preferred dates!

That’s our story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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Posted in Uncategorized on October 26, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Yes! That’s right…YELLOWFIN TUNA! The north end of Cerralvo Island gave up a few teasing days of great tuna fishing early in the week with 20-25 pound fish crashing around the boats. Popular Captain Jorge holds up some fish with our good friends, Len and Cheryl Atkinson.

CHANGING NORTH WINDS AND UNSTABLE WATERS DAMPEN A SOLID BITE AND APPEARANCE OF TUNA!

La Paz Fishing Report for the Week of Oct. 19-25, 2008

PHOTO 2: Len Atkinson and Captain Jorge at North Point Cerralvo Island holding one of the yellowfin tuna that romped on the panga fleets early in the week. Our bait and flyfishers alike all got into the fish. Down below, deeper water amberjack also bit for anglers fishing further down the water column.

PHOTO 3: Stacy Amos from S.California poses with Captain Armando and one of the nicer grade bull dorado that are still roaming the waters outside of Punta Perico.

PHOTO 4: She likes NASCAR and fishing and now loves La Paz too! Becky Amos holds up a nice bull dorado taken close to shore on strips of fresh giant squid. This was Becky’s first trip down with us here.

PHOTO 5: Beast from the deep. The giant squid are still here although some days they seem to be deeper and deeper. This 50-pounder is about to be gaffed. We’re using chunks of these guys to slow troll for thd dorado outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 6: Our amigos from the heartland, Leroy Freeman and Al Burgess from Kansas had a pretty good week with over 10 species of fish caught including dorado like these.

PHOTO 7: Sure is a pretty fish. Tasty too. It’s a golden jack and also known as a palometa amarilla. Byron Tanaka from the Sacramento area does the honors. He and his guys spent the week flyfishing with us and got an assortment of fish including tuna, jacks, bonito, dorado and sierra on the flyrods fishing with Captains Loreto and Moncho.
PHOTO 8: From Utah, here’s the Gustafson family: Morgan, Debbie, Broc and Bill with a few handfuls of Las Arenas dorado.
THE FISHING REPORT

Well…we were kinda hoping we’d go out at the end of the season with a roar. It sure looked like it. However, mother nature is cruel and she had other ideas. Instead of a roar. We got a whimper as the week went on. Fish kinda went on strike!

Simply put, by the end of the week, we were struggling for fish as seasonal northern winds appeared to have started earlier this year. When they start blowing with regularity, things change. And I have a feeling that our blue water season may be coming to an end. We’ll have to see.

However, the week sure started nicely. Dorado, although not big, continued to bite pretty steadily for both our Las Arenas (Muertos Bay) and La Paz fleets. Most of the fish were 10-15 pounders. Hardly the big bulls we’re used to this time of year, but lots of fun, especially on the lighter tackle. Jacks and roosterfish were in the shallows as well. Some boats did better than others, but if you fished a few days, everyone got fish at some point. Not banner, but steady.

Then, we got the real bonus…tuna showed up at the north end of Cerralvo Island! Whoa…what a surprise. These were a nice grade of fish too…25 pound class sluggers! Light tackle and even our flyfishers got into the fish and had a blast getting beat up. In the same spot, some of those nice amberjack also came up too! We had those kinds of days when everyone literally came back to the beach looking trashed and bloody, but all with big grins. So we got pretty jazzed and figured we were finally on it…

Well, then the winds started up. They blew hard enough that it was almost impossible to get up to the spot again bucking against the north winds…unless you wanted to get soaking wet and/or get your teeth rattled out of your head!

And that was the bite…after that…with the winds blowing…even the dorado seemed to go ground and became about as scarce as chicken’s teeth. Really had to work for the fish the latter part of the week. Even the bonito seemed like they weren’t interested. I won’t kid ya. The last part of the week had lots of sunshine and that was almost about it.

I sure hope the winds don’t hang around. We’ll hope for the best this coming week. I’d like to run up for some of that tuna again.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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Posted in Uncategorized on October 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Famlies that fish together. From the left…the first four are the Barker family (Matt, Al, Big Al and Diane). Next four…the Gustafson family (Bill, Morgan, Debbie and Broc). All are from the Salt Lake City UT area and were on their first trip down to visit us. As you can see, not a bad day of dorado fishing out of Muertos Bay. The fish they’re holding are fairly representative of the type of dorado we got all week.

RESIDUE FROM THE STORM – A HUGE FULL MOON – CHANGING WINDS PUT A TRIPLE WHAMMY ON THE FISHING BUT DORADO AND BIG SQUID FILL IN THE BLANKS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Report for the Week of Oct. 12-18, 2008

PHOTO 2: YEOW! Talk about first time outta the block! Justin Wick from Alaskas holds onto the big 250 pound black marlin he nailed out of La Paz on his first day of fishing. Captain Eddy Carballo (left) was driving the panga and holds up one of his lucky orange Crocs. Seems whenever Eddy scores big he is wearing his lucky Crocs! The funny thing is that this fish was caught on a little purple and black tuna feather while trolling for bonito to use for dorado bait. Justin fought the fist for over an hour. They were going to release it, but the fish died at the end.

PHOTO 3: Here’s out amigo, Al Barker again and his son Matt from Sandy, UT. Biggest dorado of the week he got on a chunk of slow trolled squid just outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 4: More long-distance amigos all the way from Kansas. In front is Al Burgess and behind him is Leroy Freeman. Both have been down numerous times and show off some of their first-day dorado. Leroy also got a marlin that day.

PHOTO 5: Rich Grigas from Northern California holds up a pair of dorado he got on bait that are fairly typical of some of the fish we were getting early in the week.
PHOTO 6: Diane and Al Barker get an assist from Captain Armando on the beach at Muertos with a couple of their dorado they got on their first day of fishing.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Check it out. Turn up the sound and click thelink!


Kind of a quiet week around here. Quite a few folks for all the fleets canceled after so many flights canceled over the previous weekend from the hurricane (that turned out to be a woosie of a hurricane…lots of wind, but not much else). Anyway, not much traffic on the water.

I kinda think we got triple whammied this past week. I don’t put much stock in any of these things that happened if taken alone, but all three of them stacked up and I think it made a big difference in the fishing. First, as mentioned, we have the hurricane (which wasn’t much of one). Then, we had the biggest and longest full moon of the season. Then, the winds shifted from the north and started blowing and made things kinda rough. Put all those together and the fish were just outta synch!

What the hurricane did was turn up the waters around La Paz. It got rough AFTER the hurricane. In fact, the waters out of La Paz AFTER the hurricane were rougher than during the hurricane! Bright sunshine and warm conditions, but there were 4 foot waves in the bay! We did put out some the day after the hurricane but fishing was off as the waters remained brown and green.

So…

We had everyone fish out of Las Arenas instead most of the week. That’s the beneifit of Tailhunter having two fleets. We fished out of Las Arenas…well, Muertos Bay to be exact (we moved the boats back there to the cove)…and surprise! We got fish!

In fact, the area barely got touched by the storm! The big squid remained there right where we left them. There were dorado scattered around the mouth of the bay including a few nice bulls there then towards Punta Perico and the lighthouse which also kicked out more cabrilla and yellowtail. It wasn’t great gonzo fishing by any stretch, but everyone got fish. We had several families and first timers so by fishing them out of Las Arenas instead of La Paz, we were able to have a good time for all.

Some other surprises as well…yellowtail popped up off Punta Perrico! There’s been some strange happenings there this pas season. Yellowtail were there in the spring…big ones!!! But usually yellowtail are around when the waters are cold. However, there’s a bunch of bait stacked up there like squid, mackeral, caballitos and sardines. Commercial guys got some 20-30 pound yellowtail early in the week then some of our anglers got some 10 and 15 pounders. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Additonally, some tuna popped up briefly around the south side of Cerralvo. The elusive tuna came up and went down. We’ll keep track of that as well. Who knows! It’s been a weird season for species.

By the time you’re reading this, hopefully, the La Paz side fishing will have settled and the fish come back. Tune in for the next report!

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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Posted in Uncategorized on October 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1 : Dog tooth pargo trophy! Chip Wickline was fishing with 30 pound test just off the Las Arenas lighthouse with Captain Archangel and looky what he caught! This massive dog-tooth snapper (pargo) also called a cubera snapper or pargo perro. Estimated at 50-70 pounds this huge guy tore into a chunk of bait. Most folks think that the spring is a good time for the pargo, but although it’s true we get the most fish during that time, we got the biggest ones in the fall.

HURRICANE NORBERT HALTS FISHING LATE IN THE WEEK BUT DOES LITTLE DAMAGE BUT BEFORE THAT BIG SQUID AND DORADO SCHOOLS KEEP ANGLERS HAPPY!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Oct. 5-11, 2009

PHOTO 2: Wade Gomes and Bill Moore from northern California area hold up two of the dorado they got fishing a day out of Las Arenas sch

PHOTO 3: One of the larger bulls that day, first timer Keith Kleppe hooked this guy working the dorado schools that have taken up residence between the Las Arenas lighthouse and Boca de Alamo.
PHOTO 4: Now appearing on “air dorado” playing “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, Joe Burkhart holds up an ice bull dorado taken south of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Dave Wakaybayshi’s guys from Southern California all hold up a nice quiver of dorado after a day of fishing at Las Arenas.
PHOTO 6: I teased Paul Dubow that he was holding his big roosterfish like a “loaf of bread” with an assist from Captain Gerardo, but he said, “When you’re 75-years-old you can’t be blamed for holding a big fish like that! Great catch from Paul. It was his first and he released it. The big roosters are still around this late in the season!

PHOTO 7: Captain Moncho (Raymond) poses with Ed “Sunny” De La Torre who spent 3 days flyfishing with us on his first trip down. He admitted he was a rookie on the flyrod but got numerous pompano, his first rooster and well as dorado on the flyrod and had a great time.
PHOTO 8: Willy Domingo from San Jose CA was trolling a plastic hoochie on the surface with 30 pound test line. No wire. When this wahoo bit, not 50 feet from the shore! As it was being fought, another wahoo twice the size swam around the boat eating chunked squid, but nothing with a hook. The wahoo was a great surprise. Sed Roldan of Hacienda Heights CA, cradles his prized barred pargo he caught on a piece of squid off the Las Arenas lighthouse.

PHOTO 9: Kevin Lang and George Nichols show off two of their dorado caught flylining baits south or Muertos Bay SE of La Paz.

PHOTO 10: Here’s the fish that made Las Arenas famous being held by Chris Blair and one of the best rooster captains in our fleet and in the area, Captain Archangel. This beauty was released to grow larger, but fish like this are still prowling the sandy shallows near the lighthouse!

PHOTO 11: Another solid beauty of a roosterfish! Rod Brown from Alaska visits us each year and loves fishing with Captain Jorge, for obvious reasons. Check out the rooster. Las Arenas is considered the “roosterfish capital of the world.” This fish was released.


PHOTO 12: Look carefully. I’ve never seen it photographed before and it’s a shame I can’t make the photo larger, but there’s about a dozen dorado in the water boiling on bait in a feeding frenzy! Get them going like this and it could be non-stop high-flying action for hours!

PHOTO 13: On the left Paul Scheuring from Mill Valley. Middle is Mike Ting from Redwood Shores. On the right is Fernando Sucre also from Redwood City. Showing of a brace of dorado headed to the hotel kitchen for a cook out. The guys caught these dorado north of La Paz

PHOTO 14: Don’t go in the water! This is the beak of one of these aggressive hungry giant squid. Easily snap off a finger or when groups get together tear apart fish and yes…even people! These hunters are canibalistic and even eat each other! This beak is what is in the middle of all those tentacles!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

We actually have two clips this week. Turn up the sound. The first link is to the hot fishing action. The second link shows some clips from Hurricane Norbert! Enjoy!
THE FISHING REPORT

An exciting week here for sure. Let me set the scene. We pretty much figured hurricane season was over. It’s already pretty late in the season. Things had been going really well. Cooler temps on the water and air pretty much signal the end of storms. Well, about mid-week, all of a sudden, we get notices that Hurricane Norbert might be headed our way and it was gonna be a BIG ONE! We couldn’t be sure of how strong it would be or even if it would hit us directly. Day-by-day, it was stronger-weaker-stronger. It was going to hit us directly, then move north, then come our way again. It was the most erratic storm I have seen. At one time, it was up to a Category 4 hurricane which is almost the strongest!

People spent the week here alternately sandbagging, taping windows, moving furniture, building berms, and stocking up on flashlights and water and gas. For us as a fleet, we had to continuously juggle the fishermen to get them where waters were safer as winds would rip, then die, then rip again.

Anyway, it finally hit us Saturday. Oh wow…that’s about all I can say. It was ALOT of wind and that was about it. Like a big FART of a hurricane! It had to be the dryest hurricane I have ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, I was thankful, but after all the preparation and anticipation, it turned out to be just severe enough that we had to cancel a lot of fishing trips and a lot of our fishermen headed home had their flights canceled. So, everyone drank beer and watched the baseball playoffs. I have officially re-named Hurricane NORBERT, Hurricane INCONVENIENCE!

As for the fishing…well, those big squid off Muertos continued to be huge and hungry so that’s how we started most days off Las Arenas. Trolling the squid strips for dorado usually produced a flurry or two and enough dorado in the 8-20 pound class to keep folks happy most days. (Check out the photo above). Still not a lot of big bulls. This late in the season, we should have more bulls in the 30, 40, 50 pound class, but right now, a 25 pounder would be a trophy.

Big roosters are still around as you can tell by the photos. It’s late in the season, but the big boys are still hanging.

Marlin and sailfish are also around. Most of them are being caught right where the dorado schools are biting. Not surprisingly, they are eating the smaller dorado and baitfish.

We did have some really interesting things happen. Our amigo, Bruce Peterson, from South Dakota, dropped his big squid jig down and as it sank below the boat in the clear blue water, not 10 feet below the boat, a big striped marlin bolts out and inhales the squid jig all the way down it’s gullet (Squid jigs the new hot marlin lure?) Anyway…fish on! Fight on! The got the fish to the boat and the marlin had completely inhaled the the lure down it’s throat, but was still able to be extracted and released.

Roy Cordes (we want to adopt him as our ex-officio grandfather) got into a wild dorado bite where a dorado leaped into the boat and bit him in the toe, then jumped back out! FISH ATTACKS MAN!

I was on the water myself a few days this week and the squid bite was incredible. These are 60-80 pound beasts! I would NOT want to get into the water with these. They were not only hard to pull up, but if you took too long, you could actually see the other squid tear the hooked squid apart. No mercy. After all your work, you’d come up with just a head and some tentacles!

I don’t know what this storm will have done to the water and fishing conditions so we can only guess. But often, it washes a lot of debris into the water that becomes a haven for baitfish and ergo, the sportfish! We’ll keep you posted.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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Posted in Uncategorized on October 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: THE BEASTS ARE BACK! I”m referring to the squid, not our two angler buddies from Boston…Mike “Moogie” Alperin and Joe Abrams. For two weeks not the big uglies have been off the Las Arenas area and range up to 60 pounds!

THEY’RE NOT BIG BUT THERE’S ALOT OF THEM! DORADO AGAIN CENTER STAGE WITH BIG SQUID GARNERING LOT OF INTEREST TOO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2008

PHOTO 2: From Denver, Dave Van Steenkiste came down for his first La Paz foray and did some great fishing including this excellent bull dorado, one of the largest this week. He was fishing just south of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 3: Our amigo, Nathan Chow, has been down numerous times with us and always does well. He got this nice female dorado while fishing north of La Paz. Nathan is from Fremont CA

PHOTO 4: A happy bunch after their first day of fishing, Steve Meyers, George Nichols, Kevin Lang (hiding behind the dorado) and Steve Delot hold some of their catch including the giant squid held by George.

PHOTO 5: Yes, the big roosters are still around. Mike Alperin was our rooster king of the week with several big guys caught and released this week including this big guy taken not far from Las Arenas beach. Captain Adolfo helps out. Mike released all fish and specializes in light tackle. He’s from the Boston area and this was his second trip out to see us this year.
PHOTO 6: Also down for their 2nd trip of the season are Craig and Cathy Corda from the San Diego area. Note Cathy’s new pink rod!

PHOTO 7: This seemed to be a week for returning amigos! Roger Van Steenkiste on the far left from Arizona comes to visit us twice a year. He was just here in August. Here’s he’s back again terrorizing the fish schools. Next to him are: Mike Reber, Greg Van Steenkiste, Jay Dawe, David Van Steenkiste and Olin Martin. Over 4 days, the group caught and released scores of dorado.
PHOTO 8: On is first trip with us, Joe “Flash” Abrams holds up one of the many schoolie roosterfish still holding along the beaches around La Paz. Great fun on light tackle. Joe and his amigos released a majority of their fish including all roosters.

PHOTO 9: La Paz in the house! Two of our La Paz amigos, Aurelio and Carlos know exactly what’s going on the barbecue tonite. They got an easy limit of dorado not 200 yards from the beach and stopped fishing after only 2 hours.

PHOTO 10: Don’t go in the water. This is what a 50 pound squid looks like going through it’s color changes before being brought aboard after coming up from the deep. These are not “cute.” These things can and will hurt you.
PHOTO 11: I told Dave Van Steenkiste to bring his flyrod out on the panga. Right off the bat, his first two fish on the flyrod are dorado! That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

PHOTO 12: Left to right, Randy Nakayama (Fullerton CA), Derrick Tagawa (Whittier CA), Mark Kojima (Hacienda Hts CA) with some of their dorado catch as well as one of the big squid they took just south of Punta Arenas lighthouse SE of La Paz
PHOTO 13: This is Chuck and Jennifer Applegarth from San Luis Obispo CA showing their first-day catch standing on the sand at Las Arenas. Flurries of breezing dorado can quickly turn into a feeding frenzy of colorful fish.
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
Turn up the sound and click the link!
THE FISH REPORT
Well, if you wanted to catch a dorado or a big squid (big enough to eat you!), this was certainly the week. Probably 90 percent of the catch this week was dorado. To get the dorado, you often had to catch the big squid. What a way to start the day…pulling a 40, 50, 60 pound squid up from several hundred feet down in the hot sun! It’s a workout!

But, let’s start with the dorado bite. OK…there are a lot of dorado around here right now. There’s not a lot of big ones. Normally, this time of the year, our average dorado STARTS at 20 pounds and goes up to 60. The AVERAGE size dorado is a 30 pounder. Not so the last few weeks. A 20 pound mahi is pretty big for now. Most of the fish are in the 10-15 pound class. However, lacking in quality, the schools have been making up for it in QUANTITY. Although it doesn’t happen every day and you can miss the school or have a slow day, don’t be surprised if you run into a school where you can hook and release 20 or 30 fish at a time! Bottom line, everyone who wants a dorado is getting dorado.

The dorado areas are scattered. Basically, if you have a bait in the water, you never know if a dorado will bite. The competition for the food is fierce and they’re willing to bite the big squid in chunks, live sardines, lures and strips of bonito as well.

For the squid, the guys fishing Las Arenas are getting big huge! Check out the photos. There have been squid even larger! Catching them right out of the chute in the morning is the way to go then using chunks for the dorado to get them going. Also, save some of that squid meat! Guys are taking huge slabs home in their ice chests for calamari.

For other species…sorry…no tuna this past week. I can’t imagine where they are, but this is normally a good time for the yellowfin. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, the tuna bite could crank up!

As you can see, we’ve still got some chunky roosterfish around! Fish the beaches. Most of these fishe are getting released and we’ve gotten some solid 50 pounders this past week.

Marlin and sails still around, but all four billfish…black marlin, blue marlin, striped marlin and sailfish are all in the waters feeding on all the small dorado and bonito.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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Posted in Uncategorized on September 27, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: “She outfished me!” laughed Tom Bartlett as he helped wife, Diane, hoist her bull dorado for the camera. It was a great week for dorado with limits or near limits most days!

GREAT WEEK FOR DORADO FISHING HIGHLIGHTED BY THE GIANT SQUID FINALLY SHOWING UP!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Sept. 20-27, 2008

PHOTO 2: The size of the fish doubled this week for the dorado catch. Standing on Las Arenas Beach, Jim Andrews from S.California holds up a beauty he got flylining live bait just offshore.

PHOTO 3: Patrick Tomyoy really wanted to catch a marlin. He had no idea what he was in for. He was fishing for dorado with 25 pound test when this big striped marlin whacked him. With the help of Captain Miguel, he fought the fish for almost 4 hours north of La Paz. We don’t often target billfish although we surely have our share in our waters, but not much you can do when one of the big boys eats your little bait. An epic battle!
PHOTO 4: These guys always do well. Our good amigos, Jeff Sakuda and Criag Fuschino hold a pair of winners. Jeff holds one of the few yellowfin tuna we got this week and Craig holds the bull dorado. The next day, both amigos each got a wahoo to cap things off.

PHOTO 5: Not many tuna taken this week, but but ones that were were closer to 20 pounds than previous week like this one held by Johnny Wong from Pasadena CA

PHOTO 6: Lionel Frailey from Arizona always wanted to get a roosterfish. He succeeded! The roosterfish are still along the areas beachs ranging up to 50-60 pounds. This one was released.

PHOTO 7: Ladies in da house with fish! Roseanne Ishihiro from Hawaii was on her first trip. Marianne Sugawara from Cypress CA makes it down several times a year. The dorado bit nicely for the ladies!
PHOTO 8: Alex Molina came down with a pack of his firemen buddies and he displays one of the good looking dorado caught off La Paz waters this past week.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Turn up the sound and click the link to see some of the fishing clips from this past week:
THE FISHING REPORT

What a week! Dorado! Dorado! (And more dorado!). Not a whole lot of BIG fish, but there was generally now shortage of action for 10-20 pounders with limits of fish the rule rather than the exception. There were a few bulls in the 30-40 pound class, but they were fewer and far between Suffice to say that at least the fish were bigger this week than last and there were a few days this week when the boats came back early or simply stopped fishing the dorado well before noon because anglers simply had too much; got bored with too many dorado; or wanted to hunt other species. All of these are GOOD things which meant lots of action and fillets for the ice chests.

Overall, I’d have to say that our Las Arenas fleet did better than our La Paz fleet, but our La Paz boats weren’t far behind.

Our Las Arenas boats ran into several days of the giant squid (20-60 pound beasts to start the day!) and using them chummed schools of hungry dorado into a frenzy towards the boats. After that the schools would eat live bait, chunked squid, trolled bonito, chunked bonito, trolled feathers…and even a piece of lunch burrito that one angler dropped over board in the middle of the bite and had two dorado race to explode on the toritllas! Actually, the larger problem has been reminding anglers and captains to RELEASE more fish, especially the smaller and female fish! As the week went on, I think anglers got the clue as we heard stories and saw more fish getting tossed back.

But a word about these squid. These are the big boys everyone keeps asking about. Imagine starting the day winching up one of these creatures from deep water when the sun is climbing higher and the humidity is already 80 percent and the captain tells you that you need several of these for bait! As one guy said, “It was like pulling a refrigerator up the side of a building with a string!” But all had fun. If you can, bring the BIG heavy squid jigs with you!

Roosterfish were sporadic but still on the beaches. Tuna would pop up and bite then go down fast. We had 5 or 6 wahoo biters, but only 2 landed at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

For our La Paz fleet, the bite was scattered, but centered generally between the islands. The dorado were a touch larger than their Las Arenas counterparts and the largest dorado of the week came from our La Paz boats. We had a few marlin hooked up and released as well. There were stories of tuna breaking at the north end of Cerralvo Island, but every boat that chased them there never found the fish.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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Posted in Uncategorized on September 20, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Tuomas Holmberg from Los Angeles with one of the larger dorado taken this week. We scaled it at 41 pounds taken on a sardine in Bahia Ventana. There were alot of dorado this past week, but very few approaching this trophy sized beast!

DORADO GO ON THE RIP JOINED BY YELLOWFIN TUNA THIS PAST WEEK. BIG ROOSTERS ALSO STEP UP!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Sept 14-20, 2008

PHOTO 2: Big dorado are the norm in the fall here in La Paz, but this past week, there weren’t many big ones at all. However, Frank Venesca holds a gem taken while fishing with our La Paz fleet north of the city.

PHOTO 3: Some guys just got the luck! Anthony Avila, Jr. came down on his first trip. Not only does he get his first billfish…a sail…but he also gets a wahoo right off the bat on his first day on the water. Go figure! Great fish. Guys come for decades and never get a sniff of one of these. Anthony is gonna get spoiled.

PHOTO 4: Goofy shots are always the best. These guys just had too much fun. From left to right holding dorado at Las Arenas Beach is Wes “Big Kahuna” Howard, Anthony Gallardo, Jorge Villegas and Ruben Gallardo, all from the Los Angeles area.
PHOTO 5: Every few days this past week, the tuna went strong to the baits. These yellowfin were 12-20 pounders. The fish also moved closer just off the old Hotel Las Arenas south to Muertos Bay. Here, Don Nose and Mark Lee heft a few tuna that ended up in their box along with a mystery dorado!

PHOTO 6: Funny thing about the tuna this past week. The smaller your bait, the better the yellowfin tuna liked them! Bigger baits caught dorado. Smaller baits caught tuna. Johnny Wong from Pasadena CA and Stever O’Rourke ripped into the tuna schools with my Las Arenas fleet.
PHOTO 7: It was a good week for roosters. The big boys were right there in the shallow waters. True to it’s reputation, there’s a reason why Las Arenas is known as the “Roosterfish Capital World.” Steve Tomata and Ray Lim were fishing with us for the first time and got a double hookup on these two 35 pounders not too far from the Las Arenas lighthouse close to shore.

PHOTO 8: Randy Lee is from Los Angeles. Bruce Dodge is from another planet. (Gotcha Bruce!) and two of the nicest and funniest guys when they come down here. Bruced hooked this nice sailfish. There were quite a few billfish around feeding in the bait schools and on the samller dorado, tuna and bonito.
PHOTO 9: Hector Chavez from Salinas CA had a good trip with us. Got his first roosterfish as well as his first dorado on his first time fishing…ever. This 40 pound rooster ate a slow trolled live bait off Las Arenas Point.

PHOTO 9: My good buddy, Pablo Bejarano from Rosarito Beach, Baja Norte, made the report this week with this nice dorado. Congratulations, Pablo. This young man can really dance too. We put a few tacos into him one night and he stopped the crowd in the restaurant when he decided to show off his footwork!

PHOTO 10: Gotta love this photo. It’s our Dave Crawford from Texas who dodged Hurricane Ike to come play in La Paz. Along with his amigo, Larry Daniels, they had a great day on the dorado and yellowfin tuna.
PHOTO 11: Shout out from Jorge Villegas showing off one of many schoolie dorado he racked up fishing two day with our Las Arenas fleet. The dorado were sometimes so thick you could “free gaff” them said one of our anglers.

PHOTO 12: Keeping it tight, Mark Avila, Anthony Avila, Manny Avila, Manny Jr. Frank Venesca and Anthony Avila, Jr. gather around a big mess of fish headed to someone’s barbecue.

PHOTO 13: Brad, Jeff and Greg Smith (they’re brothers!) and amigo, Frank Villa all came from northern California and ran into a mess of yellowfin tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 14: Pete Mason had quite a day tangling with the big roosters. Talk about grand slamming! Pete got a 34 pounder, 50 pounder and this 62 pound rooster. All fish released.
PHOTO 15: Not a big week for wahoo, but Brian Kam from the San Francisco Bay area, busted up this one near the south end of Cerralvo Island.
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
Turn up the sound and click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkJn1ut6RCI
THE FISHING REPORT
Wow…what a week. It had it’s ups-and-down, but overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty darned good week of fishing down here! There were some slow moments, but I think for most guys who fished at least 2-3 days, they had some great action!

In fact, some guys had some outstanding trips…trips of a lifetime. Many personal best or heaviest fish were caught. Or, many guys got their first tuna, wahoo, marlin, or dorado. It was good to see the smiles. For instance, Patrick Tomyoy fought a 150 pound black marlin close to 4 hours on 25 pound test. Lionel Frailey, Ray Lim, Steve Tomata, Hector Chavez got their first roosters and all of them were trophy fish! Anthony Avila, Jr, got his first wahoo AND his first sailfish. I can’t even name all the guys how pulled on their first tuna this week.

But that’s how it went.

Far and away, the most prevailant catch were the dorado. Some time they were like little punks everywhere. They were some moments they were so close to the boats and so thick, guys were trying to free-gaff them! Both our La Paz and Las Arenas Fleets got into the dorado. There were more fish on the Las Arenas side, but the larger bulls were caught by my La Paz boats.

The biggest problem was actually the lack of larger fish. It seemed like the fish gods put a 10 pound dorado into a copy machine and pressed “copy!” There were so many fish that looked exactly alike! It was rare to get any fish over 20 pounds or even 15 pounds although we did have a few nice bulls to put in the boxes (see the photos). But, I could have used a few more of those. Still, there was no real shortage of the streaky spring-time dorado. Usually, this time of the year, the dorado are more like 20-50 pounders. They must be out here somewhere!

As for other species, we had a nice surprise of tuna for my Las Arenas fleet in the area of Punta Perrico and Bahia de Los Muertos. Not far from shore at all and the fish went 10-20 pounds. A few days every boat had about 5-10 of the fish hooked. A few other days, the tuna went to ground and only a handful of tuna were brought to gaff. However, some boats hooked tuna they COULD NOT STOP!!! So some of the bigger models appear to have moved into the area.

In addition to the tuna and dorado, it was a pretty good week for roosterfish too. Funny thing. Some days we couldn’t get a sniff from the roosters. The next day when no one really wented them, they were THICK!!! Small ones…medium…sized…large models! Just depended where you were fishing. Check out the photos above. These are the ones that were not released. Quite a few others were dropped or let go to get even bigger. The largest of the fish this week were 50-60 pound brutes.

For other stuff…a few wahoo were yanked and spanked ,but more often it was the other way around. The anglers lost the fish! A few billfish were caught while guys were trying to fish dorado or tuna and sierra in the bay indicate to me that there’s some cooler water moving in.

We’ll keep you posted!

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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Posted in Uncategorized on September 14, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Manny Gonzalez had never fished before. He had never even had a fishing rod in his hand. He casts his first bait and hooks this good looking dorado bull fishing just a hundred yards from where he is standing for this photo at Punta Arenas Beach. Dorado were the mainstay of the catch this week.

TROPICAL STORM LOWELL PINCHES THE FISHING A BIT WITH A FEW HOURS OF HEAVY RAIN AND ALOT OF ANXIETY BUT DORADO STILL TRY TO DO THEIR PART

LA PAZ/ LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT 7-13, 2008

PHOTO 2: Anthony Garrett was on his first trip down to see us and had a good time. (Right Anthony?) He’s holding a few of his first-day dorado here that he got on live bait off Punta Perico.
PHOTO 3: A pair of nice dorado for Brian Kam who came from the San Francisco Bay area.

PHOTO 4: Two of the funnest folks we’ve had in a long time are John and Dolores Ehler from Denver Colorado standing here with Captain Pancho from our Las Arenas fleet. Check out the dorado and yellowfin tuna in front of them. There weren’t many tuna this week. They got elusive on us again, but there were a few. The key to them was the lightest line you dare to use!
PHOTO 5: Ian Boyd, Dave Boyd, Jeff Gilbertson and Dave Stoller do a group pose with dorado at Las Arenas Beach. Dave has a roosterfish he’s cradling. (See below)

PHOTO 6: Dave Boyd wanted a rooster and got this trophy 33 pounder on live bait in shallow water off Punta Arenas. Attempts to revive the fish weren’t successful, but the meat was donated. There are still quite a few roosters around. You either find some loners like this one with the larger fish going 30-70 pounds or you hit schools of smaller fun 10 pounders.

THE FISHNG REPORT

I guess the story this week was Tropical Storm Lowell mucking things up. Like most storms at this time of year, it comes out of nowhere. One moment, you’re looking at all the 5 day forecasts and the next, it suddenly changes and shows 5 days of storms on the horizon. Our biggest concern, of course, is whether it becomes a hurricane or not. Lowell did not get bigger and badder. When all was said and done, it messed with the fishing a bit and dropped some heavy rain for a few hours. It caused the port captain to shut down the port for the most of a day. That forced us to cancel the boats for one day. That was kind of it. We feel badly for the guys who can’t fish that day, but most made good use of it…staying out later the night before to enjoy the town then getting a chance to sleep in the next day and have real breakfasts!

So, bottom line…Lowell was more a big inconvenience than an actual emergency.

As for the fishing, before the storm, we had a fairly nice bite of dorado going on. Both our fleets at Las Arenas and La Paz got into maybe 3-8 dorado per boat per day with a mix of bonito, and the occasional tuna. On the La Paz side, our boats got primarily dorado but also got to raise a few marlin and sailfish.

Most of the variety fish were caught on the Las Arenas side by our other fleet. A few tuna got into the counts with the dorado, but we got a few wahoo biters, some sailfish and pargo. Plus, our failsafe, roosterfish were pretty much good to have along the shorelines. It wasn’t great fishing, but it wasn’t bad either. Just kinda of mixed up and unpredictable because of the storm.

After the storm, it seemed to get a bit better everyday, but at the time of writing this, it’s still a bit early to say what’s up. We’ll keep you posted. My suggestions if you’re coming down fishing is to go with the flow. Don’t be “species specific.” Fish for what’s there. Don’t shoot for the homerun. The captains all want to catch fish so let them put you on the bite and you’ll have fun. By far, the boats this past week that didn’t focus on a particular species got the most bites and had the best times.

ALASKA STATE CLIENTS

If you’re one of our Alaskan clients, Alaska Airlines has some incredible fares and companion fare discounts if you book before Oct. 13th for a trip down here in 2009. Check it out. Some of the companion fares are as low as 50 dollars.

ALASKA AIRLINES FLIERS
This past week, Alaska Airlines started using Horizon Air (owned by Alaska Air) to start flying down here to La Paz. If you’re booked on Alaska to fly down here, check your schedule to make sure it’s the same flight. It may have changed slightly . Also, the Horizon planes are smaller than the Alaska planes so they’re alot tighter on weight restrictions and luggage sizes. Get there early to your terminal if you’re bringing gear with you!

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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 »

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