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Posted in Uncategorized on April 26, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: A new king is crowned! An incredible week of pargo fishing for the big elusive and frustrating fish was topped by this beast! We had more pargo and bigger pargo this week than we ever normally see! Barry Wood from Orange Co. CA with an assist from Captain Armando hefts a HUGE 49.6 pound pargo liso (on the scale!) he pulled out of the rocks near Muertos Bay.

BEST WEEK OF PARGO FISHING AS INSHORE SPECIES GO OFF WITH OFFSHORE SPECIES STILL GETTING BETTER!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for April 27, 2008

Photo2: Dan Cook was on his first trip to Mexico and first time fishing La Paz. The 18 year-old graduates from high school next week but skipped out for some early R n R to go fishing all the way from Boston MA to hang with his dad. Efforts rewarded! Check out the slugger of a pargo he got as well as roosterfish and lots of other species!

PHOTO 3: These fish are all over the shallows right now, but usually almost impossible to yank out’ve the rocks. Lee Cook and his son Danny (photo above) from Boston got FOUR of these huge fish off Cerralvo Island on live bait.
PHOTO 4: You may not recognize this guy, but he’s famous! Mike “Moogie” Alperin used to have a very popular fishing TV show on FOX TV. But he’s better known for being the inventor of the famous “banjo lure” that you used to see advertised on TV. Don’t laugh. He sold millions of these little plastic lures and laughed all the way to the bank enabling him to retire and do what all of us want to do…fish whenever he wants! He came all the way from Massachusetts to fish light tackle with us putting numerous species on line as light as 6 pound test. (Releasing almost all fish!) However, he knew enough to put down the little rods and grab heavy artillery to nail this HUGE pargo liso. He got four of these monsters in a single day. Almost unheard of!

PHOTO 5: Caryn Aizawa gets a hand from Jeff Sakuda both from the Los Angeles CA area with this nice bull dorado taken off the offshore buoys near Cerralvo Island. Dorado have show up early this year! Last year we had a decent dorado season, but not many big bulls. This year, we’ve already seen larger fish in the last 3 weeks than we’ve had all last year.

PHOTO 6: Not bad for a first fishing trip. Dan Cook is 18 years-old and ripped all kinds of species this past week including this trophy dorado.
PHOTO 7: Mike Alperin holds up a nice little roosterfish taken on 6 pound test. If you wanted roosters this week, we found a spot south of Muertos Bay with unlimited roosters. Alperin caught and released so many roosters “we stopped counting.” This is a perfect size for light tackle. Alperin also lost a fish estimated at over 50 pounds that chomped a huge ladyfish bait.

PHOTO 8 : Keith Mufford from British Columbie and Kelly Ashmore from Valencia CA hold up a pair of dorado they got at the outside buoys. Mufford had never fished salt water. Ashmore is constantly on the water. In addition to a box of dorado on this day, they also hooked 3 marlin including a double hook-up and released all fish.
PHOTO 9 : Just to show more of the inshore variety, Joe Fong from Laguna Beach holds o a jack crevalle (left) and a nice cabrilla (seabass on the right). Inshore fishing included sierra, jack crevalle, big eye jacks, snapper, pargo and pompano.

PHOTO 10: Yes, there’s still big yellowtail around, but since the dorado and pargo showed up, the focus has fallen off the great yellowtail bite. So, not many yellowtail on the books these days. However, outdoor writer and guide Ronnie Garrison from Atlanta GA holds up a fat yellowtail and lost many more to the rocks. Captain Jacobo lends a hand. Here’s what Ronnie wrote…
“. . .we went out with our local guide and fished all day in our old clothes. It was a fun trip. After buying live sardines for bait we headed to a ridge to fish. On the way we spotted a marlin and I found out why the outfitters are called Tail Hunters. As a marlin swims on the surface feeding its tail waves around and gives its location away. It was early in the season and the marlin did not bite.
We did land a 35 pound yellowtail. Linda hooked it and the guide took the rod from her when it looked like it was going to pull her in. He then handed it to me and I managed to land it. I found out how lucky I was when we hooked eight more yellowtail and every one cut our line on the rocks.”
PHOTO 11: Monica Calin originally from Romania and now living in La Paz always seems to do well. She was fishing with her boyfriend Kevin Beehn in the channel between the islands and got a nice bull dorado.

PHOTO 12: We had folks from all over the country this week. Rob Burns from Texas had a great few days of fishing with his family and hung a few of these big yellowtail.

PHOTO 12: We have a tremendous number of billfish in the area right now. One day they will barely give you a stare. The next day they are almost jumping in the boat! Pat Ireton from Pacific City, Oregon got this sailfish with Captain “Yofo” Adolfo and then released it.

WE NOW HAVE VIDEO!

Check out these clips from the past week. We’re doing our best to keep it fresh for you!

Click these links too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRqLV4o2wAg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS5o-BNn2TI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_krVmqoXp-4

THE FISHING REPORT!

Check out the photos and it tells the story! Every week there’s another surprise. For a number of weeks the story was the great bite of big yelllowtail. Then dorado showed up and edged the yellows out of the spotlight. This week, it’s big pargo and roosterfish. This early season is the best we have had in ages!

Here’s the scoop…honestly, we had FEWER fish caught this week. However, the QUALITY of the fish was great. Big pargo…normally hard to catch…were breaking lines and rods. As one angler put it…”The waters were’t red with pargo! They were BLACK because the pargo were so thick!”

Additionally… We found a spot of roosterfish that yielded some of the BEST roosterfishing I have ever seen. With light tackle, the waters foamed around the pangas with as many 5-10 pound roosters as you could have wanted. I was on the water and we literally lost count of all the roosters we caught and released!

Are the yellowtail still there? I have to believe they are…but…we had a few days of wind which prevented anglers from heading to north Cerralvo. Further, folks were out chasing the dorado, pargo and even marlin and sailfish that have shown up a the outer buoys.

In all honesty…there are a few slow days. It’s not wide open. It depends on what variety of fish you are chasing and where you go. But EVERYONE is catching fish. I counted over 18 varieties of fish this week. Just alot of great fun.

One fishing tip…bring flurocarbon leaders! It makes a big difference with your bite. It’s very expensive to buy here in La Paz. You don’t need much. Just a few feet at the end of your line can make all the difference.

That’s my story. Have a great week!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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 April 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

UNEXPECTED FISHING FOR YELLOWTAIL, DORADO AND EVEN MARLIN KICKED OFF THE WEEK BUT SHUT DOWN WHEN WINDS STARTED LATER IN THE WEEK.

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for April 20, 2008

PHOTO 1: Good- sized dorado…early for the season, continued to show up in surprising numbers. Spencer Lasley (L) and Jerry Smith (R) from Santa Rosa CA packed their coolers with dorado, yellowtail and a number of other species. These dorado were picked off outside Cerrlavo Island

PHOTO 2: All the way from Kansas, Marc Richert and Chris Richert are helped by Capt. Victor with one of their dorado. The pair had never been out’ve the country and were originally thinking of going to Cancun! Insstead, they came to La Paz and got dorado, yellowtail, roosterfish and marlin. Marc fought one striped marlin almost 3 hours on 30 pound test before it broke off.

PHOTO 3: This is the “right kind!” Note the colors on this young bull dorado held by Pete Schuller of Pacific City, Oregon. Check out the flat waters too. Captain Pancho is in the background. This dorado and others were taken off the 88 spot buoys outside Cerrlavo Island.
PHOTO 4: This is a typical nice inshore catch here by Mike Mamman and Scott Carpenter from Beaverton OR who came down for their birthdays. (They each got tatoos to commemorate the event!). In the photo you see dorado, sierra and pargo. All great eating fish!

THE FISHING REPORT

The week started off with a bang. Just like last week, the sound you heard was the sound of fish exploding at all points. The yellowtail (20-50 pounds) continued to rip at the El Bajo Seamount north of Espiritu Santo Island. Sardines worked, but if you had the bigger caballitos it was almost instant bendo as fish fought for the baits.

The surprising thing…dorado in the channel as well as marlin! This is a first for the year. Again…way earlier than normal, but just like the dorado and billfish that showed up far outside at the 88 spot, these fish are normally pretty dormant until later in May or June. However, I’ve been watching water temps and the sargasso weed building up north of town.

Wham! Sure enough, boats early in the week got into both species big time with some great battles on light tackle and some anglers getting their first dorado and marlin. So, it was a good grab bag…yellowtail in the morning then grand slam with a dorado or marlin in the afternoon!

As well for my fleet out of Muertos, early in the week, the big bite at La Reyna north of Cerralvo Island continued to kick out those monster yellowtail with boats taking 2-6 of the big fish each. Outside at the 88 and a few spots in the channel around buoys or clumps of grass, dorado were milling and ready to eat like hungry wolves!

Then the winds came up…

We’ve been living on borrowed time the last few weeks with not much in the way of winds, but late in the week, the seasonal winds we normally have started blowing making it downright uncomfortable if not impossible to get out to some of the big fish spots.

That meant back to inshore fishing.

So…roosters, sierra, cabrilla, big eye jacks, jack crevalle, bonito, skipjack punctuated by big pargo were the game toward the latter part of the week. The counts did not look good but that’s also because a lot of these fish, especially the pargo would take anglers to the rocks. So, lots of hook ups, but not so many fish brought into the boats. Lots of action! Winds will be intermittent all week so we’ll play it by ear.

It’s a warm 95 now! Break out the shorts!

ON A SADDER NOTE…

In a huge shock to all of us here in La Paz, fish brother, competitor and friend, Francisco “Pancho” Aguilar owner and operator of the Baja Pirate Fleet here in La Paz died suddenly this past week.

He was a good guy. Always smiling. He was out on the boats when hit by a massive heart attack. He was only 42 years old and left two kids including a newborn.

Pancho and I did a lot together in the mid-90’s and worked together. We’d laugh at each other seeing each other at 5 a.m. every morning then seeing each other in town at midnight the same day laughing our heads off figuring we were the only guys in town still working that long or that late.

As our respective fleets grew larger and business interests got more complicated we saw less of each other except the occasional bump into each other in town or see each other at the trade shows. But he always had a joke or we’d bitch about wind, bait or some “special” customer and again…crack up.

I will miss him. I don’t think I had seen him happier than in the last year or so after his marriage to La La.

His partner, Leonard Phillips, is setting up a educational trust fund for the two kids, Andrea (14) and Kamila (5 months). The trust is being administered by Bank of America and Bancomer for the benefit of the kids. (Andrea wants to be a chef!). You can donate by sending a check or calling in a credit card to:

Andrea & Kamila AguilarC/O Baja Pirates10016 Pioneer BoulevardSuite 110Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670Or call (866)454-5386

God bless our fish brother. Make each day special. Every day on the water is a gift.

That’s my 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 April 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

WINDS DIE DOWN ! WATERS GO OFF WITH THE BEST WEEK OF FISHING FOR THE YEAR!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Sunday April 13, 2008

Amigos…

I’m not sure where to start. What an incredible week. They say pictures are worth a thousand words so I’m gonna let this week’s photos tell the story.

For one, we had our 8th Annual Cabin Fever Classic and it was banner. Not only a great fun crowd but, more fish than we have ever seen. Remember…this is supposed to be APRIL!!! Instead of cold inshore fishing we had temperatures in the 90’s…and unbelievably HOT fishing. I counted over 15 different species taken over the course of the week.

And…these weren’t all yellowtail….DORADO…big bulls…the kind we don’t see until summer fought and charged the baits while marlin and sailfish also went after the same baits as if they hadn’t eaten all winter!!! Scroll down and read the tales!

PHOTO 1: Look VERY carefully? See some strange looking fish? Yes..those are indeed DORADO! In April! The buoys out at the 88 spot east of Cerralvo turned into a fishing honey hole this past week. Look also at all the big yellowtail too! North of Cerralvo at La Reyna lighthouse 30 and 40 pound HAWG yellowtail ripped surface baits like candy! Left to right: Pete Schuller (Pacific City OR); Larry Parnell (Pacific City Or): Pat Ireton (Pacific City OR); Jill Stevens (San Diego CA); JD Drucker (Redondo Beach CA); Bob Handigard (Portland Or); Stacy Amos (Harbor City CA); Gary Evans (Irvine CA); Bill Evans (La Paz BCS); Brett Wizniewski (Pacific City OR)

PHOTO 2: Bill Evans helps his brother Gary Evans (middle) and Captain Jorge hold up a 140 pound striper Gary fought over 3 1/2 hours on light line. It was his first trip to Baja and he got numerous species. Normally early season billfish are lethargic, but this past week marlin and sails charged the boat while dorado milled about. The dorado were so prolific that while Gary fought the marlin, Bill was able to put several bull doardo aboard. The guys had planned to release the billfish, but found it bleeding badly and instead donated the fish to the town of San Pedro.
PHOTO 3: Check out the smile and the big pargo! Angela Farrell of Oceanside CA comes down several times a year and never fails to rip up the waters. Here she took this big pargo liso off the rocks near Punta Perico on a Whopper Stopper rod and 40 pound test with a live sardine. Numerous pargo were hooked all week but so many were lost in the rocks. At one point. several of our anglers marveled as a “river of red” seemed to rise up about 100 yards long of nothing but 20-50 pound pargo! Many fish could NOT be stopped with 60 and 80 pound test!

PHOTO 4: This was NOT taken in the summer! Look at this bull doardo! We do NOT see this kind of quality dorado normally this year. Stacy Amos hold up a quality mahi he took out at the 88 spot east of Cerralvo. Stacy got limits of dorado and said there were many others plus billfish around the boat. As long as the winds are down, there’s a warm spot out there holding these bluewater fighters and they are eager to hit about anything tossed in the water!
PHOTO 5: Gary Palese and Bob Robins are two of our long-time amigos. Both are from Arizona. Check out the quality slugger yellowtail and the flat waters. This past week it was a bit of a ride to north Cerralvo, but anyone who went there ran into fish that were some of the biggest and baddest we’ve had in years. I personally had 3 fish on 50 pound test I could not stop before they rocked me! Air temps have been in the low to mid-90’s!

PHOTO 6: Larry Parnell and Pat Ireton from Pacific City OR were among our first pangas to find the dorado spot outside. Pretty much against all better judgement they went out there anyway and came back with tales of the big honey hole out there filled with milling dorado and billfish. These aren’t early season punk fish. These are full-grown summer swimmers!
PHOTO 7 : Lots of anglers this week got their first species ever like dorado, yellowtail, billfish, pargo and many other species. For some, it was their biggest yellowtail. Jillene Stevens, originally from San Diego grew up fishing S.California waters but never tangled with any yellowtail like this big 40 pound class forktail. She put two in the boat at the north end of Cerralvo Island off the La Reyna lighthouse in waters that were also alive with barracuda, jacks and 10 pound bonito. She yelled, “It’s a wonder!”

PHOTO 8: The tale of the “tails” just kept rolling! Steve Marabella (right from Wilmington CA) has been here plenty of times. So has Mark (“spread ’em”) Cabatuan from Santa Maria CA and seem to do better each time they roll in. This one day, the two anglers took 12 big yellowtail “until their arms fell off!”
PHOTO 9 : JD Drucker is also one of our frequent offender amigos from Redondo Beach, but invited his pal Bob Handigard from Oregon to join out Cabin Fever Classic this past week. They both stuffed ice chests with a variety of fish!

PHOTO 10: Two of the best eating and most prized inshore fishing from our area are being held up by Stacy Amos of Harbor City CA. With al the attention on chasing the big yellowtail as well as the dorado, everyone was ignoring the great inshore bite on the rocks just outside of Muertos Bay for pargo and cabrilla like these held by Stacy. Other species this week included big-eye jacks, jack crevalle, sierra, snapper and roosterfish.

PHOTO 11: Gary Evans and Bill Evans had 3 days of off-the-charts fishing. At La Reyna, they got these nice yellowtail. The key was heavy line; short rods and FLUROCARBON LEADERS!!! Mainlines were usually 40-60 pound test minimum. No spectra needed because these fish weren’t running far, but the mono is prime to keep the baits swimming right. The problem (not really) was that there are also so many big bonito and schools of barracuda in the area that EVERY bait got eaten sometimes before the yellowtail could get them but the big homeguards were swirling on the surface.

PHOTO 12: They’ve been on these pages numerous time. Tim and Angela Farrell…always spank the fish. The Oceanside CA couple hold some BIG TIME pargo liso. The pargo are up and spawning now. Only problem is that they are in shallow waters with big rocks.

PHOTO 13 : They are almost getting ignored, but schools of sierra are still roaming the inshore waters. Chad here is holding up a nice speedster headed to ceviche and chips! Great light tackle fare but wire is needed to guard against the teeth.

And that’s my story, amigos! The secret is really the winds. When the winds ;lay down, we can fish pretty much anywhere and chase all these species. When the winds blow (normal for this time of year). we’re more restricted to inshore fishing. However, the appearance of dorado and billfish is really unusual for this time of year and in these numbers and quality. We’ll keep you posted!
Have a great week!
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 April 5, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: The “right kind!” This is Kevin Beehn from South San Francisco CA. Kevin has been in our pages before. He’s holding an El Bajo yellowtail caught this week on the seamount north of town. For the good part of last week, the winds stayed down allowing access to the distant high spots which has kicked out a consistent bite almost ever day…as long as the winds stayed down.

PHOTO 2: Two yellowtail taken by Monica who is Kevin’s girlfriend from S. San Fransisco and holds up two that are almost as heavy as she is. Big fish continued to come from the area north of La Paz in perhaps the best bite of yellowtail in recent memory.

PHOTO 3: Here’s Kevin again. Two more fish. Had to include this one just ‘cuz I like when people take different photos with a sense of humor! Thanks, Kevin!

PHOTO 4: Cary McDermott of Las Vegas NV put this toad yellowtail on board the panga when he fished off Punta Perrico south of La Paz just outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Here’s a fish we chase and hook, but don’t often put in the boat! This is a pargo liso or “mullet snapper.” Schools of these badboys are roaming the shallows in their annual spawn. This is an “average” fish. Larger fish are rarely taken simply because they go right into the rocks. Mike Mattes of the San Fernando Valley area near Los Angeles jumped in his plane on a spur-of-the-moment-trip to get in on the yellowtail and pargo fishing.

PHOTO 6: Lots of Oregon folks down here and others from the Pacific Northwest soaking up sunshine right now. Nathan and Ryan Tarbet from Portland OR, came down for a week with their family and got a variety of fish including some big yellowtail like this one off Punta Perrico.
PHOTO 7: Glen McCarthy from Las Vegas ripped up a nice sierra here. Quite a few sierra are still in the area despite warming waters. Great eating and excellent fighters with a mout full of sharp teeth, sierra are an excellent game fish and table fare despite being members of the mackerel family.

PHOTO 8: One of our favorite Oregon amigos, Bruce Tarbet goes a little sideways on us to show off a nice jack crevalle (“toro”) he took. Schools of these feisty fish are up in the shallow waters offshore right now.

PHOTO 9: Just to show you the incredible variety, roosterfish have also come into the picture now. Captain Gerardo hold up a good roosterfish that Diane Tarbet caught on a day out’ve Muertos Bay. The roosters came a little earlier this year. Diane is from Portland OR.

MORE THAN A DOZEN VARIETIES OF FISH MARK THE WEEK WITH YELLOWTAIL, PARGO, ROOSTERS and even some DORADO (yes, that’s right!) ON THE BITE!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for April 6, 2008

I guess this is one of those weeks, when I’ll let the photos above do the talking!

For some folks it’s probably some of the best fishing ever. Big yellowtail continued on the non-windy days north of town at the El Bajo Seamount, but with diminishing winds it allows us to check out other areas as well.

North Point at the north end of Cerralvo Island, the La Reyna light house, Punta Perrico, the Rock Highway (S. Cerralvo) and some others all produced fish this week. At times, it was a pick bite but on others, anglers described big fish simply “foaming” on the surface.

Not every day and every location was full turbo on the yellowtail, but there was enough action on enough other species to give everyone opportunities to get fish. Albeit, even if they weren’t the big sluggers, there were still big pargo…sierra…skipjack…snapper…cabrilla…jack crevalle…big eye jacks…pompano…and others! One day, I counted more than 15 species taken and not a needlefish in the bunch. If you were a light tackle angler these are some of the most sought after species on the light sticks and line.

However…that’s also undergunned for most of these fish…You want the bigger artillery.

Heavy line and fluro leaders are still the inside track to the bigger fish, but Rapalas and slow trolled BIG live bait also produced panga- stopping strikes!

On the days when the wind blew, the bite dropped off and winds hampered fishing later in the week. However, overall, not many complaints about the fishing….

Oh… as I was going to press on this fishing report, we had some EARLY season bull dorado caught as well this week and 1 marlin hook up. This is dynamite winds as this means perhaps warmer water species are coming early!

That’s my story! Have a great week

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 March 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: You’ve seen these two guys before. They are regular poster children with Tailhunter International because they always do so well AND take great photos. Mitch Chavira and Charlie McGhee from San Diego area are holding a few of their many yellowtail they took fishing over several days down here.

PHOTO 1: Fresh off the rail…Punta Perrico in the background. Mitch and Charlie hold two more forkies.

PHOTO 3: This is what the term “mossback” means. It’s the dark green/emerald back of a big old yellowtail. Also called “homeguards” because they don’t seem to migrate as much and hold “down home” in the rocks and other areas where they grow big and mean!

PHOTO 4: Helmut Tutass from the S.F. Bay area is a professional commercial diver up there and came down for some sunshine. He stands here with Captain Victor on the beach at Muertos holding a nice yellowtail.
PHOTO 6: Helmut Tutass and his wife, Mary, also spent a day fishing north of La Paz and hit El Bajo Seamount where he got 6 yellowtail and 3 other broke off.
YELLOWTAIL EXPLODE NORTH OF LA PAZ AS EL BAJO LIVES UP TO ITS REPUTATION!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Sunday March 30, 2007

Sure….here you go… it;s kinda hard to believe, but let me put this into context…

Normally, La Paz isn’t exactly Yellowtail Central. We get our share, but the normal Meccas for yellowtail are north of here in Loreto, Mulege, Santa Rosalia, Bay of L.A., etc. Normally, when we do get the yellows, it’s in late March or April.

This year, they started two months ago and the bite has just gotten better. As winter winds have given way, the yellowtail have come on like gangbusters. The initial bite was mostly off Bahia de Los Muertos in the shallow rocky waters just off Punta Perrico not 5 minutes away from where our panga fleets leave the beach. Unlike early fish, these fish kicked right off the bat with 30 and 40 pound sluggers!

And it got better from there. As the winds diminished, other spots north of La Paz around Cerralvo Island and Espiritu Santo Island joined the fray. Some days are better than others, but overall, this is possibly the best yellowtail bite we’ve seen in years. At El Bajo yellowtail, normally deep fish, are crashing and foaming on the surface chasing baits with bird diving on the melee. At La Reyna north of Cerralvo, the lighthouse and other high spots are producing fish tickling the 50 pound mark on big baits and iron. And, the original spot between Muertos Bay and Las Arenas seems to have that same school holding and holding. These fish are not line shy and have been hitting, 40, 50 and 60 pound test, but probably 50 percent or more of the fish are rocking anglers or busting them off. The key is to get out early and get to the fish first and before the sun gets too high.

For about 3 or 4 days this past week, the bite was just solid. El Bajo, especially, north of town was producing 5-10 fish per boat. with anglers telling me that they lost almost as many. Several rods got busted. Literally snapped. As one angler told me, “I had my Shimano 30 buttoned down in full drag with 60 pound test and could NOT stop the fish!” Another wasn’t ready when he got hit and was almost yanked over the side had the captain not grabbed him.

The La Paz side was definitely the hot spot this past week, but as we got into the weekend, perhaps because of more traffic on the spot, the bite slowed. For our hot spot at Muertos, the yellows were not quite so thick…at least, not as many fish were put on the boat, but….whoaaaa…the pargo jumped into the gap!

The pargo have been getting ignored, but they came on strong this week. Lots of hookups on BIG fish, but not many made it to the boats. Perhaps 1 fish out’ve 10-15 hook ups! That’s how powerful these fish are! But, we also had good light tackle action on a variety of other species including sierrra, big eye jacks, jack crevalle, pompano and roosterfish, not to mention bonito and skip jack. All-in-all, a pretty good week!

Tell ya what…if you’re coming down…here’s some tips..heavy short rods…40-60 pound test…flurocarbon leaders in 30-80 pound diameters are working well.

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
This is what Mitch Chavira had to say:
“These fish are brute’s and you gotta pick up the Pace. Pro or not, if you hook a big guy and he’s close to the rocks it’s all you can do to stop em. You need luck and experience. We did well with our loss ratio at Punta Perrico but it was much tougher at El Bajo. The day we got 12, we were rocked on about 35% of our bites. It was a very steady bite all day. We played around with some A & B testing of fluorocarbon vs. mono and various line weights, 30, 40, 60 and it didn’t seem to matter. The key to getting bit is to watch the water for boils, and chum like crazy. You gotta get em going and get bit near the surface to have the best shot at boating these slugs. We were also using short stout rods with A LOT of back bone. If you cant show these toads who’s boss from the get go, you’re in trouble. I think the ideal line would be 50lb maxima ultra green on a small two speed like a Shimano TLD 20 or a star drag Trinidad 40.”
This is Charlie’s take on it:
“We fished an hour earlier than anyone else every day and we fished twice one day. In fact, I would recommend that you put your costumers on your first boats out at Muetros as the bite is very short lived and always shut down around 8:30 when we were there. We fished with 40# Floro for the first three days at Muertos. No real problem with the rocks as the captains pull the fish into the deep water. When we got out to El Bajo, I decided to see if Floro mattered. I silently went to straight tie. No difference! It makes me think that 60 might be the call at el Bajo as the rocks got all the big ones. (You need to button it down and pull! There are some big fish there just waiting to be caught). We fished with Mustads. I think I am totally over the Owner and Gamagatsu thang! $4.95 for a pack of 20 hooks is just right for me. I’m sorry but those hooks don’t make you a better fisherman.As far as iron is concerned, I am an iron guy and I tried like hell to catch a fish on iron. I hooked one on surface iron, throwing into a boil. Nothing on yoyo (iron).”
Thanks, guys!
That’s my 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 March 23, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Whoaa…off Punta Perrico the yellowtail are still milling! These first two photos are two of our best amigos and favorite poster boys! They know how to fish and they also take great photos for us trip after trip. This is Charlie “Stix” McGhee, a great drummer, music professor and angler. We’ve done several long range trips together. Stix knows how to put fish in the boat. This yellowtail is impressive. It’s almost as tall as him…and Charlie is taller than me!

PHOTO 2: Mitch Chavira, like Charlie McGhee also from the San Diego area and perhaps one of the best anglers in our area. He’s another of our poster boys. I have so many photos of him over the years as well as his son, Cole. Many of them make it into the magazines that I write for. Mitch knows how to pose with a fish! Check out this huge yellowtail. Note the calmness of the water and how close they are to shore! I keep telling folks that unlike so many other places in the Baja, we don’t have to go out very far for our fish! The guys fished at Punta Perrico which is literally 5 minutes away from where the boats left the beach.

They got 12 of these in one day. Some anglers are hooking this many, but the fish are taking them into the rocks. When these bad boys bite, you gotta PULL and lock down. Once they turn their heads…you’re done! Mitch and Charlie have fished the area for years and have done big fish out at Guadalupe Island as well.

PHOTO 3 : Jack Galloway from Alaska came down for some sunshine and tangled with some of our big yellowtail. This is an absolute HAWG fish! The yellowtail continued to bite off Punta Perrico, but some of the other area also started to open up as well.

PHOTO 4: A great rack of trophy-size yellowtail. This bite has been ongoing now for the better part of two months…close to shore and fish willing to eat live bait in shallow water. Fish are going 20-40 pounds with some larger. Great eating!
PHOTO 5: Sara Galloway is 12 years old. She and her dad came from Alaska. Take a look at this great picture! That’s a big mossback yellowtail she has there and check out the other ‘tails behind her. Sara got a couple of these fish with her dad, but lots of fish are getting the better of anglers taking them into the rocks before they can dig in and get the fish out!

PHOTO 6: Take a look at the size of this big boy (No, I’m not talking about Captain Victor who seems to be wearing a bit of winter weight…we’ll work it off him!). Seals got into the act and tore into some big fish. Nothing more frustrating than hooking a fish then watching the dogs get him. We don’t normally have a problem with seals, but every now and then one gets a wild hair and comes out to the fishing grounds ruining some great trophy fish!
PHOTO 7: I guess this needs no explanation. This is the bandito. I don’t like to hurt ’em permanently , but I don’t want them around either. That’s why I always try to keep a dead bonito or skipjack around. If the sealion comes around, I fill up the inside of that dead fish full of the hottest hot sauce I can find and throw it at the seal. The seal gulps it and immediately goes ballistic flipping around the ocean. And goes away!

PHOTO 8: This one made it to the boat. Great photos and a trophy fish for Sara. This would be great framed. That’s alot of meat there. Captain Victor lends a hand. Even a 12-year-old can do it!
MORE BIG YELLOWTAIL ROMP ON ANGLERS AT MUERTOS, BUT CALMING WINDS ALSO PRODUCE FISH NORTH OF LA PAZ!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for March 23, 2007

Happy Easter everyone! God bless you all and your families!

The yellowtail got bigger, feistier and hungrier this past week. Check out these photos above. I guess if you just read the captions, there’s not much more for me to write without sounding like a broken record! See, the thing is, La Paz just isn’t known as a great yellowtail fishery. When someone says, ” I really want to catch yellowtail!” and are in earnest, I usually send them to Loreto, Mulege or Santa Rosalia where the waters are cooler and the yellowtail fishery is much more predominant.

La Paz gets it share of yellowtail, but it’s sometimes hit or miss. We get a few days in spring, then nothing, then a few more days, then nothing, then a few more days. You get the idea. Fortunately, other fish are often biting when the yellowtail aren’t biting.

But this season the yellowtail have come on like gangbusters and they showed up early. Normally, we don’t see yellows until late March or April, but these fish have been parked off Punta Perrico for the better part of two months. How long will they stay? I have no idea!!! The neat thing is that with the winds calming, we can now start checking out some of the other spots like Espiritu Santo Island or El Bajo or other spots around Cerralvo that have been too rough to get to. Who knows? Maybe even more and bigger yellowtail! We do know that some schools of the big pargo have started showing up around Cerralvo in a couple of our secret spots and also amberjack as well…the big toad boys that go up to 100 pounds. One lump of about 60 was hooked and busted off near the boat at color! But the captain told me he saw larger ones following it up as amberjack will often do! Dang…that gets my toes curling thinking about that. We actually got a few of those big boys last season!

Anyway, the yellowtail are eating sardines. No secret about that. Same with the pargo. Same with the roosterfish and cabrilla. Same with he sierra and big eye jacks we are also catchiing as well.

The biggest problem has been the seals and the rocks. Both are out there ready to cut you off! You really can’t horse with these fish. You have to turn their heads and get them to the boat ASAP! The longer they are in the water, the great the chance you’re gonna lose it!

We’ll keep you posted!

ALASKA RATES DROP

We noticed that on selected dates, Alaska Airlines has dropped it’s rates again. We found some as low as $350 round trip from Los Angeles to La Paz and back. That’s incredible. It was close to double that early in the year! Alaska flies Mon/ Wed/ Saturdays into La Paz. If you happened to purchase one of the higher priced tickets early, you may want to re-book at the lower rate. Even if Alaska charges 75 bucks or so to re-book, you still save money!

FISHING IN A PEN? IS THIS CHEATING? OR ARE YOU JUST A WEENIE? Hahahahaha….Man up!

Click this. Can you believe it? They are putting marlin in a pen as well as tuna, jacks, wahoo…whatever fish your little heart always dreamed of catching. They put the boat in the pen with you and the fish and you hook up. Guaranteed!!! C’mon… Big bad big game fisherman!!! Pound your chest! Maybe this is what it’s coming to!

It’s a fishing ranch, where they catch ’em; grow ”em in a pen just so YOU can tell everyone you caught a grander marlin or 200 pound tuna! Click this: http://www.bluewaterfishingranch.com/

Have a great week!

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 March 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: End of the 2008 Road Tour in Salt Lake City, Utah. After 3 months on the road through Califoria, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and Utah, we’re done. Thanks to everyone who came out to the hunting and fishing shows to see us and came to chat. Now back to home to La Paz and let’s go fishing!

PHOTO 2: Monica was out fishing with Kevin Beehm of S. San Francisco and got into a nice school of jack crevalle. These tough fighters normally run in big schools off reefs and beaches and have such a hardcore reputation as fighters that the Mexican name for them is “toro” (bull). They’ll hit bait as well as lures with a crash and are excellent sportfish on light tackle or flyrods.

PHOTO 3: Another shot of Monica with a jack crevalle. Jacks are related to yellowtail, amberjack, pompano, roosterfish and several other species of the jack family that run in our waters. Most of them taste pretty good. Others don’t. However, all of them are grumpy battlers when hooked.
MORE YELLOWTAIL FILL THE FISHBOXES AS WELL AS JACK CREVALLE AND OTHER SPECIES!
La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for March 16, 2007


Another surprising and good week of fishing off Muertos Bay. Those big fat yellowtail are still on the chew with more big fish in that 20-40 pound class of slugger. I don’t know how to explain the bite because fish of this quality don’t normally start showing up until about April or even May.

And then again, the better yellowtail bite is usually north of La Paz, especially off the north ends of Cerralvo Island and then around Espiritu Santo Island and El Bajo Seamount. However, for whatever reason the fish gods have decided, these big forktails have decided to park themselves right off Punta Perrico in relatively shallow water. Go figure. Like most things, it’s probably a chunk of bait sitting there or something.

I’ve dove the area with tanks and the area is pockmarked with terraced channels that go from about 10-100 feet with schools of fishing swimming parallel to the shoreline. It would be great to see what these schools of yellowtail look like underwater as they’ve been there in numbers now since February.

The only other time I’ve seen concentrated yellowtail was a dive I did off the wreck of the Salvatierra a ferry boat that went down in the channel between La Paz and the south point of Espiritu Santo Island. Right under the fantail of the large ship, I swam up and felt like I was being watched. I turned to my right and under the fantail there must have been a 20 foot curtain of hundreds of 20-30 pound yellowtail all facing into the current like a huge sheet of fish. It was amazing. I just parked myself on a little patch of sand about 15 feet in front of the school of hundreds of fish and sat down on it and just watched and watched until my air tanks got low. I wonder if the schools of Perrico are like that now too!

Anyway, these fish are eating bait pretty readily so it’s not complicated fishing. Basically, pin a bait on a hook and drift it down. A bit of flurocarbon leader doesn’t hurt. The fish do not seem to be line shy at all.

In addition to the big yellowtail, however, there’s schools of jack crevalle in the area (see the photos). These fish taste like the bottom of a shoe, but are excellent sportfish. There’s also schools of bonito and skipjack, cabrilla (seabass) and pargo in the same area as the yellowtail.

THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIME- TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR 2008 ENDS

Well, we’ve been on the road since the beginning of January and we just wrapped up our final show in Salt Lake City. What a great venture it is every year and continues to be. Eight states covered in that time and driving the whole time perhaps through one of the worst winters on records through rain, sub zero weather, high winds, snow, ice, and mud. But at each show, at each city it was incredible to see all the old friends and meet the new ones. Thanks for all the hospitality, amigos. We got invited to so many homes and asked out to so many dinners and lunches and drinks, we could have been taken care of from start to finish and never paid for a motel or a meal. Thanks to all.

Now…back home to La Paz and a great 2008 season!

That’s my 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 March 10, 2008| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Winter fishing doesn’t get much beter than this! Shallow water, inshore live bait fishing for big yellowtail! Rob Clark from Santa Rosa CA ripped up this nice forktail off Punta Perrico near Muertos Bay SE of La Paz. Rob got a few of these nice ‘tails and dropped another nice one he fought for a long time before it took him to the rocks and busted off!

PHOTO 2: Again, here’s Rob with a pretty yellowtail. Take a look at the flat waters and how close Rob is to the rocks. Even though winter is windy, we can hide on the lee side of the winds out of Muertos Bay and around Punta Perrico and still get quality fishing for trophys like this yellowtail, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, roosters and sierra. This week most of the yellowtail went 20-40 pounds.

YELLOWTAIL SHOW NO SIGN OF LET-UP THIS PAST WEEK AS MORE BIG ‘TAILS RIP UP ANGLERS!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for March 9, 2008
It’s pretty hard to believe. They showed up early this year and have stuck around so far for more than a month. These big yellowtail off Punta Perrico continue to tear up the tackle. If you don’t know, Perrico is the little jut of rock and land just outside of Muertos Bay…that’s literally minutes from our launch spot in Muertos and only several dozen yards away from the beach at times.

This isn’t rocket science fishing either. Literally, a live bait pinned on a hook and dropped over the side on a drift is about all it has been taking. Not much complicated about that other than trying not to let the rod get jerked from your grip! Most times, no lures or weights are being used as the fish are relatively shallow and artificial gear gets hung up and lost on the rocks below.

Indeed, the biggest obstacle, once hooked, is keeping the fish themselves from rocking the anglers! This isn’t wide-open fishing, but there’s surely a good number of fish and the quality of these fish is incredible. Fish up to 40 pounds are not unusual and the boats are ranging from 2-8 fish per boat.

Other fish on the prowl include sierra, roosters, and pargo that were also caught as well as big eye jacks (the good eating ones) as well as skipjack.

ROAD TOUR 2008

Well, after 3 months on the road we finally wrap up our 2008 road tour. We just finished the huge Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center and again, what a great time seeing all the amigos and also making new friends as well. Anyone coming by the booth knows it was PACKED in front of our booth most times and I’m really sorry if I didn’t get much time to chat very much at times as folks were 3 and 4 deep in front of us! But, we hope everyone had fun.

We are now back on the road and headed back to the cold after a week in the sunshine. We’re headed to one of our favorite places…Salt Lake City where we will be at the International Sportsman’s Expo in Sandy, Utah that goes from Wednesday to Sunday. Come see us. It’s our last show. We have a limited number of comp tickets to give out. If you let us know at least a day before you plan to arrive, we can give out 2 pairs per person for as long as they last. First come, first served. After that, we do have tickets at a discount. Hope to see you then!

ALASKA AIRLINES!

Rates have been kinda high this year, but it seems that we got a break this week. Check with Alaska Airlines as rates went down a few days ago to around $380-450 round trip from Los Angeles to La Paz round trip for MANY dates! Also, don’t forget that if you get approved for an Alaska Airlines Visa card, you can get a 50 dollar companion voucher for a 2nd ticket. If you have questions, ask us!

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
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 March 9, 2008| Leave a Comment »

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