Tailhunter Fish Report

DORADO AND TUNA STILL ON LATE SEASON CHEW!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Nov. 12, 2006

PHOTO 1: Craig Peterson is one of our regulars in La Paz and just got himself into the record books with a new world record yellowfin tuna. Craig was freediving off Puerto Vallarta when he shot this big dawg cow that weighed in at 317 pounds. This is all done “freediving” (no air tanks!)
If you want more details, click: http://tailhunter-international.com/jonathansblog.htm

THE FISHING REPORT

Unbelievable late season fishing, amigos. Yes, the winds are up. Yes, the water and the air is cooler, but the fish don’t seem to mind. Anglers fishing both La Paz and Las Arenas continued to hang some great fish!

La Paz Fishing:

Who would have thought that it’s almost Thanksgiving and we should be fishing smaller species in the rocks that we’d still be hanging big dorado! It’s definitely NOT summertime conditions and it’s a little bumpy and breezy, but the big mahi…some in the 50-60 pound class…are still biting. Check out the photos below. That area south of Espiritu Santo Island and also near Punta Coyote has been producing dorado since August. Using sardines, bonito and strip bait the fish can be dormant one moment then come crashing like gangbusters the next and all hell breaks loose leaving bloody decks, tired anglers, busted tackle and full fish boxes.

In addition to the dorado, big bonito, sierra and snapper were also caught.

PHOTO 2 : Ron Martis from San Diego had an outstanding day on the water. Using a live puffer fish that Capt. Chito pinned on the hook, Ron fought this fish for 45 minutes from start to finish despite having a sore back. They said that the big dorado showed no hesitation eating the puffer fish. Ron couldn’t lift the fish any higher, but it was estimated that the fish was over 50 pounds.
PHOTO 3: Mark Martis has fished with us alot over the years. Mark is from Redondo Beach Ca and he’s had some great success over the years when we have fished together. However, his recent fishing this week was the best dorado fishing he has ever had. He said for an hour-and-a-half, the fish were non-stop. He lifts up this big bull dorado that’s as long as he is tall!

Las Arenas Fishing:

Well, in more surprises, I can’t remember the last time we had yellowfin tuna in November! However, sure enough…right there outside Muertos Bay, the tuna were bending rods most of the week. The fish weren’t big, but they were fun 15-30 pound fish and everyone had a blast. Winds came up later in the week and it as harder to get out and fish moved a little more outside, but it was some great fishing. In addition to the tuna, anglers also mixed it up with pargo, dorado and even a few marlin were hooked this week. Everyone took home fish!

FIRST PERSON REPORT:

Amigo, Kwame Satterfield came to see us and fish with us during the summer and came back again just this week, but this time brought his family. He took time to type this up for us. Thanks, amigo:

“Jonathan, I just want to say you have a first class outfit. Your people and the service you provide were excellent. My wife and son had the time of there life.. . In regards to the fishing, I now know what a wide open tuna bite is. I always wanted to catch a tuna, well I caught 11 hard core fighters that took me and my equipment to the limit. Man it was great! Also on the La Paz side I landed 3 nice dorado, overall this was my best trip ever. I got a chance to spend quality time with my family and also do what I love which is fish.”

PHOTO 4: Mark Kojima of Hacienda Heights CA made his first trip to La Paz and holds up one of the nice dorado he hooked.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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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TUNA and DORADO BEND RODS AFTER STORMS!

La Paz and Las Arenas Fishing Reports for Nov. 5, 2006

Photo 1: Kerry Armstrong has made two trips to La Paz and always seems to do well. Here she is with Capt. Martin off Espiritu Santo Island with a beautiful blue bull dorado. More on her trip below!

In an unbelievable start to November, blue water species make a great showing after last week’s storms. Tuna and dorado mix it up with pargo, snapper, sierra and cabrilla!

LA PAZ FISHING

It was hard to believe it was November, but dorado came roaring back for our boats and our anglers fishing out’ve La Paz. Sure, there were some seasonal winds, but fishing wasn’t too far anyway. Hitting that same honey hole just off Espiritu Santo Island big dorado foamed for many of the fishermen who jumped all over fish from 20-60 pounds.

Last week it almost seemed like the bluewater season was all but done after the stormy wintry weather that jumped all over us making fishing almost impossible. However, this week, it was like nothing had changed and the dorado were willing to pick up right where they left off and have been chewing the last 3 months in what to me has been the best dorado season in many many years! I mean…hey…it’s almost winter and we’re still hanging big bull dorado.

Using sardines, whole bonito and stripped bonito, the big mahi can change a slow day into pure frenzy. One of our good amigos who has been fishing with us for years told us that they got some of their fish, including their biggest…a 50 plus pounder by using live pufferfish! He said our popular Captain Chito kept a few in the bait tank and when the big dorado came up, he pinned them on the hook and dropped them back. “The fish hit in seconds!” said Mark. His dad, who has a bad back, and is 82 years old, toughed it out and fought the fish start to finish. Whenever Mark would try to help his dad would say, “Get away from me!”

Anyway, hard to say how long this will last, but we’ll take it for as long it lasts!

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Once again…surprises!!! Who’d have guessed that this late in the season yellowfin tuna would pay us another run! All week, I had told our anglers that the bluewater stuff was probably pretty much done for the season and to expect stuff like a few stray dorado, some snapper, some sierra and maybe some seabass. H0-hum! Fun stuff no doubt, but not always rod pumping stuff!

Then, whoa…what happened? The tuna showed up! It wasn’t WFO, but make no mistake this was fun football tuna fishing and a great surprise for the anglers who were taking 2-6 fish per panga rounded out with some sierra, snapper and pargo.

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS

Court and Kerry Armstrong – Salt Lake City Utah

“WOW , that,s all I can say about our last trip to fish with Tailhunters international , Jonathan Roldan,s fishing experience has not failed me yet ! This is my third trip to La Paz , and every trip has it’s highlights. We might get one slow day in a week but that is about it .
My daughter, Kerry has joined me for her second year in a row and already is planning for next year ! this year I brought a friend for his first trip to La Paz , Beau Valtinson and his daughter Mckell and they has a BALL!!

Beau was plenty excited to outfish me for the biggest fish of the trip a big Bull dorado of at least fifty or more !! But pound for pound I got him!!

Kerry and I filled two ice chests , and had to buy another and still had to put more fillets in the suitcase ! The local food was excellent except for one night at Applebees, so I recommend just eating as the locals do , the mexican hotdogs off the food carts are KILLER !! We also took a day and went diving at the SeaLion colony and it was a great first time scuba experience for my daughter, Kerry, and were totally blown away with the sea lions and all the lifeforms under the water !!! Thanks again for such a great trip Jonathan , you took care of us in every way that is the most important part in making everyone enjoy themselves !!! adios amigo… Court and Kerry Armstrong”

Photo 2 : Court Armstrong from Salt Lake City UT got a number of big bulls fishing almost an entire week with us.

Photo 3: Kerry Armstrong came with her dad. This was her second trip and she is never a slouch always getting some great fish.

FIRST PERSON REPORT

Craig Petersen, an Orange Co. California , chiropractor, is one of our amigos and regular free divers in La Paz. In freediving, it’s an amazing sport. It basically means spearfishing without the use of tanks which are illegal in Mexcio. Therefore, these incredible athletes have only the air they can inhale in a single breath and dive to incredible depths to hunt! A number of world records have been set in the La Paz area, but Bruce didn’t come to La Paz this week, but he went to Puerta Vallarta and it resulted in a new world record yellowfin tuna!

“I have been going down to Puerto Vallarta the last year to hunt for this fish. We were diving high spots around a rock about 25 miles out and making dives to about 50 ft and just hanging there for 30 seconds or so.

Once in a blue moon a monster tuna will swim by. On this dive I had just leveled off at 50 ft whenI saw him in the distance maybe 40 ft from me and moving toward me and to my left. I quickly kicked hard to close the distance and was able to get about 20 feet away before the fish started to act like he didn’t want my company.

I let the shaft fly and it found its mark a bit lower and further back than I would have liked and not as deep of penetration but I hoped the shot would hold. He pulled me around for at least 45 minutes-after it took 6 or 7 minutes just to find the float and another 10 to catch up to it. I think he died or was close to death as I could finally start to pull him up. As I got him to within 30 feet and clipped the end of my float line to my float and swam down to him I could see that the slip tip was toggled just under the skin!

I decied I would try to grab him and point him up and swim up with him. Tied him off to the boat-feeling great but I thot he was only 250 to 280. When we got him on board the captain said he was definately over 300! WOOOHOOO! Luckily we found an IGFA certified scale and well… I am one happy camper.”

Photo 4: Dr. CRAIG swims his tuna to the surface! Remember…no tanks allowed. This is all done with whatever air you can inhale in your lungs.

Photo 5: Fat tuna and a new world record 317 pound yellowfin tuna for CRAIG!

AIRLINE NEWS

In case you hadn’t heard, Alaska Airlines is now flying from Los Angeles to La Paz 3 times a week. They commence flights from the San Francisco Area Nov. 15th. Beginning on Dec. 15th, Delta Airlines under the name of “Eastern Atlantic” starts flying from Los Angeles to La Paz.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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RAIN SUN WIND AND DORADO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 28, 2006

PHOTO 1 – This is simply an incredible fish. Check out the size of the head of this freaky beast dorado! On the left is Mark Logan helping his amigo, Jerry Pelton, both from the Palm Springs area. The fish is estimated at 65 pounds and took Jerry almost 2 1/2 hours on 20 pound string. He was glad that I recommended he put on some 40 pound leader because this fish put the wood to him. The other part of the story is that Mark did not remain idle while his buddy battled the big toad mahi. Mark kept his own line in the water and caught and released several limits of his own dorado! Mark would later put an even larger fish aboard. This horse was caught just north of La Paz

WHAT A WEEK!!!!

What a way to taper off the season. Out of nowhere, hurricane warnings. Winds, waves, rain all hit La Paz in a freak storm, but in between, we still did manage a few dorado and when they hit they blew up big time!

LA PAZ FISHING

I’m not even sure where to start. What a freaky freaky week. Amigos, we’re supposed to be D-O-N-E with this kind of weather of any kind! Two weeks ago were were all saying it was finally cooling off and looking at some great fall dorado fishing. The next thing you know we’re getting the alarms going off that Hurricane Paul was on the way!!! No one can ever rememeber a hurricane this late in the year or even rain!

We did as much fishing as we could as we all watched the winds increase and clouds come in from the south. With each approaching day…it just looked more and more ominous as we also watched the computer weather screens and jumped at any info we could.

But, we kept going out until the very last minute when the rain started falling. Headed out to that same area north of La Paz and to the south of Espiritu Santo Island, the dorado weren’t much affected and if you found the right spot you could do some serious damage in short order! Not just punk fish either…I’m talking the big trophy bulls and there were several fish in the 50-70 pound class size this week. One day they would eat only sardines. The next it was only bonito strips or the whole bonito. They guys who fished those last days got slammed in the waves and wet from the rain and fished until they absolutely had to turn it around.

Then, the rain came and came and came. So did the wind. The full force of the hurricane never hit, but it was enough that we couldn’t fish. It was yucky for about 3 days. More like being in Seattle or Oregon with 100 percent humidity. The roads from Cabo were bad. Cabo itself closed the port. Almost all our clients from mid-week on canceled their trips.

On Thursday the clouds parted long enough to get out although it was still rough. The few boats that got out all got dorado.

That got us encouraged to go out on Friday. Bad move. Let me put it this way…the winds and waves were so big and so strong that the entire fleet was back by 8:30 a.m. I was on a super panga myself and we got soaked and blasted. After an hour we were going so slowly through the chop and swells that we hadn’t even passed Pichlingue Marina. Panga after panga turned around and headed back. The waves were coming straight at us and higher than the panga and we’d chug up the face then slam down over and over until our teeth rattled. By this time we had lost the bilge pump; the bait pump AND the radio! We were going to try to keep going but when we started seeing 50 and 60 foot sportfishers turn around, we figured our 22 foot super panga had not business out there!

Coming back, we literally surfed down the faces of waves trying not to broach the boat and get rolled. Kinda scary! When we got back, for those of you that have been to La Paz, imagine waves at La Concha Beach big enough to ride a surfboard or body surf! Imagine the entire bay filled with churning white water even though the sun was out bright. Imagine huge waves hitting the Malecon (waterfront) downtown and throwing spray all over the road! Yea…it was that kinda day…

The next few days it’s supposed to calm down. At least the sun is out, but the weather folks say this wind is part of the Santa Ana winds buffeting California right now.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Easy…we couldn’t. Rain hammered the roads again making it dangerous and winds on the water made it the type of water you wouldn’t want to be on either. Northern winds are the worst!

NOT SURE I BELIEVE IT BUT…

Boys and girls…guess what? Aero California says it’s refunding money to those of us that got stuck with tickets when they were pulled outta the air. Don’t get mad at me, I’m on the messenger, but they say if you mail a letter to:

Roberto Castro
Aero California
Alvaro Obregon #550
La PazBaja California SurMexico 23000
Include the ticket numbers, passengers names, address, telephone number, and credit card for refund.

My take…

I won’t believe it until I see it! Most of you know what we’ve gone through with Aero Cal all year. In fact, last week, I purposely put on my “angry face” and marched into the Aero Cal office here in La Paz just to see what they would say if I pretended to demand a refund. I marched right up to one of the counter gals and in both English AND Spanish, I demanded a refund. She said, “No refunds!” I demanded again. She repeated her response and giggled. I demanded again and looked at the rest of the ladies at the counter all watching me. Then they started to laugh. I couldn’t keep up the charade and started laughing too. I knew that was going to happen.

Frankly, I think you’re still better off going through your credit card company. It would be just like us to mail our stuff to Aero Cal then it “disappears.” When you call them to find out what happened, they won’t know anything! They haven’t known anything all year. Why now?

That’s my story
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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La Paz /Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 22, 2006

Despite windy days, dorado continue to tear it up north of La Paz while roosters and other species keep anglers busy at Las Arenas!

PHOTO 1: Gary Maskiewicz, Marty McCune and Brian Cyr spent about a week with us on their first trip to La Paz from S. California. They ripped up the dorado and filled coolers with nice bulls such as these.

LA PAZ FISHING

As I’m writing this, we might have a storm on the way as Mother Nature wants to give us one last shot to the huevos before the season tapers off. Just when we had all been saying that we were out of the storm season, tropical storm “Paul” popped up. It might end up being nothing at all, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Actually, we thought we were moving into our “winter mode.” Northern winds started up this week and knocked out any traces of humidity; dropped the air and water temps and actually made it a bit rough on the water. Really pleasant in town, but bumpy and choppy outside the bay.

Still…what can I say…the dorado continued their phenomenal chew. Without a doubt this has been the best dorado season I’ve ever seen here. It’s not just the numbers of fish, but the consisten BIG fish we see everyday. I have never seen so many trophy fish…not just bulls either but some HUGE females as well. If you ever wanted to hunt a big dorado…fish in the 30-60 pound category, this has been the year.

We’re still picking up live sardines at the bait boats then heading out near Punta Coyote to get live bonito. Then, it’s off to the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island in an area no bigger than say, 1 mile x 1 miles. The dorado have taken up seasonal residence there and the big dorado are inhaling whole bonito! You do not want to be out here with less than 40 pound test leader. These fish are not line shy. Also, this is one of the few times when I tell anglers to bring a few 7/0 and 8/0 hooks because when we are using the big baits, you need a larger hook that will sink into the hard mouths of these mahi!

I don’t know how much longer this will last…maybe another week or two before we put the wraps on this epic dorado bite, but we’ll enjoy it for as long as we can.

I talk so much about the dorado that I forget that we also have sailfish and marlin out here too as well as snapper and pargo!

PHOTO 2: Tim Butterworth fished a couple of days with us at both Las Arenas and La Paz and shows off one of his nice bulls that he hung just outside La Paz bay.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

I don’t know whether to say it’s over, but the tuna bite sure turned anemic. The fish are still basically right off the Punta Arenas lighthouse, but one day there’s 2-6 per boat and the next two days there’s nothing. Hard to predict. Fish are still fun 15-25 pounders in shallow water, but no way to know if they will be there or not! The neat thing is that there’s still alot of action. If you have a line in the water, there’s big bonito, and marauding dorado that charge on through so folks are still having fun. The interesting thing is the roosters! It’s way late in the season for the pez gallos, but there are still fish along the beaches, at Muertos Bay and other spots that are giving anglers a chance at these exotics. No squid to speak of anymore, but I keep my big jig handy. We’re now launching our boats out of Muertos because of the north winds.

PHOTO 3: Ned Keough told me he spent most of his life never going ANYWHERE! He barely ever took a vacation. He finally decided to stop telling himself he’d go “tomorrow” and do something about it so he came to La Paz to try fishing. He had a blast. This is one of his nice bull dorado he got out of La Paz.

HEADS UP

Just in case you didn’t already hear…Alaska Air starts flying direct from Los Angeles to La Paz beginning Oct. 30th and from San Francisco Nov. 15th!!! Delta starts Dec. 15th! Finally…!!!!

PARTING SHOT! “It’s a keeper!”

Photo 4: I am not sure if this is Frank Suh or Steve Lui from S. California in the line up, but I like funny candid shots. Anyone can hold up a fish, but creativity gets style points! These guys were on their first trips to La Paz and got so many dorado they had to buy extra ice chests! Thanks for the shot, guys!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: 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 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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FULL MOON HURTS TUNA BUT FISHERMEN CONTINUE TO HURT DORADO!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR OCTOBER 15, 2006

Anglers are still headed home with full ice chests even though the full moon this past week seems to have put a damper on the big squid and tuna bite. Thanks to one of the best dorado bites in years, we’re still going bendo!

PHOTO 1 : Deborah Pellini from Colorado was fishing for the first time in La Paz and spent a day with us hooking this monster bull dorado as well as several others fishing with Captain Joel Martinez. They were fishing off the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island.

LA PAZ FISHING

If you had been fishing with us the last 10 weeks or so you would say the dorado bite had dropped off, but to most folks, this was some of the most incredible dorado fishing they had ever seen. OK…so we’re not catching 20 big bulls a day per boat, but what can you do with that much fish anyway except keep on releasing them! Most anglers are too tired anyway after just a few of these beasts. Limits this past week were still more the rule rather than the exception and if you ever wanted a trophy bull dorado, there are still plenty of 30-50 pound sluggers out there and plenty of “one-that-got-away” stories from tired anglers.

The hot spot still seems to be the area around the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island. I have no idea why the fish hang out there, but in shallow water, we’re trolling live sardines as well as stripped dead bonito and whole fresh bonito as well. Believe me…anything that can inhale a 2 pound bonito is usually pretty BIG!

If you’re coming down, you do want to have some heavier leader for these fish…at least 40-60 pound leader. The dorado are not shy. Also, bring some 7/0 or 8/0 live bait hooks to use for the bonito and also some swivels too. One day the dorado only want the sardines and the next day only the bonito will work, but there’s something incredibly awesome about watching a 40 pounc class bull shoot or greyhound across the water to pounce on a big bait and then hearing the reel scream! The biggest problem I see with the anglers is that they get too excited. That creates two problems:

1. They get excited and burn their thumbs! (I have never seen so many of you guys burn your thumbs and you know better than that…I have been passing out a regular supply of bandaids and neosporin!)

2. When using these bigger baits, the fish need time to swallow the meal. Pulling the trigger too fast only yanks the big bonito hot dog outta the fish’s mouth! Result..no hookup!

I don’t know how long this bite will last, but we’re already noticing a drop in temps and more northern winds so fingers crossed that things will last.

In addition to the dorado, we’re also still getting sailfish, marlin and roosters on the La Paz side!

PHOTO 2: Mark Stoller and his amigos from Northern California tried 2 times to come down to La Paz this year! First time they were thwarted by Aero California losing it’s flights. Then, on their second try, the threat of a hurricane caused another postponement. Well, we finally got them all down and they really beat up on the fish nicely. Mark got this nice bull dorado his first day out and it turned out to be his biggest dorado ever.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Frankly, early in the week, it was pretty stanky at Las Arenas. The full moon put a whammy on us. The big squid went bye-bye and so did the yellowfin tuna off the lighthouse. Not only did the tuna disappear, but not even the bonito bit. We were reduced to catching triggerfish!!! Well, as the week went on, things got to thawing and as of this report, we were back to getting 2-4 yellowfin per boat ranging from 10-25 pound fish. Some larger ones were sighted.

The squid have not yet returned so I don’t know if they are gone for good or only went deeper during the big moon. However, we’ve moved the fleet to Muertos Bay and there’s a good supply of small sardines there (as well as alot of small roosterfish) and the tuna are willing to chew the sardines. What’s cool is that in between the tuna, there’s quite a bit of action as the big bonito maraud through and beat everyone up and you can never tell when the dorado will also move through the drifting boats. Guys using light flurocarbon…like 25 pound test…as leader material or using small rubbercore sinkers are getting more bites…that’s the hot tip!

THE BANANA CURSE STRIKES AGAIN!

To those of you who know me or have fished with me before, you know how I feel about bananas or anything to do with bananas on board a fishing boat. Don’t ask me why it happens, but bananas are just bad ju-ju. It’s not me being excentric…the banana thing is a universal bad omen in many place around the world. Don’t call it superstition either if you’re an angler who trusts having his lucky rod; lucky socks; lucky underwear etc! If you need more info click this: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/bananas.htm

Anyway, I was fishing last week with two of my clients from Utah, Randy Hales and Johnny Ogao. We were fishing out’ve Las Arenas and I was aboard with Captain Chito Martinez one of our most popular captains. We worked our way up to the fishing zone at Espiritu Santo Island and almost before the rest of the fleet even got their lines wet..wham…we had 7 dorado aboard!

Then, we lost a few that we shouldn’t have lost! I remarked that it was, “as if we had bananas on board!” I was joking. Johnny and Randy asked me about the banana curse and I told them. They didn’t say anything except laugh.

We then lost a few more fish and one of the guy said, “Maybe we outta tell Jonathan.”

Tell me what?

They told me to look in their cooler. I opened it. Not one or two, but an entire dozen bananas were in there! I didn’t even want to touch it.

“Should we throw them away?” they asked.

I told them I couldn’t tell them to toss away food, but…(I said with raised eyebrow)

Without hesitation, they tossed the offending bunch of yellow fruit over the side.

Captain Chito started cracking up. He thought it was the funniest thing ever! He turned the boat around and fished the bananas out of the ocean with a gaff and said I was being ridiculous. He put the bananas back in the ice chest. He also got on the radio and told the rest of the fleet and my captains and clients how funny it all was.

Oh-oh…the banana gods were offended.

For the rest of the afternoon, we never got another fish despite the fact that the rest of the fleet continued to hammer the dorado. We lost fish after fish. We lost big fish and small fish. Hooks simply fell out of fish mouths. Fish spit hooks. Lines broke. Lines tangled. Reels stopped working and one froze up. Weird crap happened. They finally relented and tossed the bananas back over the side. But it was too late. The first seven dorado were all that we got.

When we got back, I also discovered one of my rods had broken. As well, the pocket in my fishing shorts where I always keep my things was empty. I had lost about 80 dollars; my room key; my i.d.; and my credit card. I fish hundreds of days I keep my stuff in the same pocket day after day and year after year. I never lose them. But today…vanished. I can only assume they blew out over the side of the boat.

Lessons learned?

The next day…16 dorado and another 10 released. Big 40 and 50 pound bulls. Not a single fish came unbuttoned or got lost. Now they believe…

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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FULL MOON BITE ON DORADO AND TUNA HOWLS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 8, 2006

Despite full moon fears, the great bite we’ve had for over a month continued…maybe not quite as strong, but folks were still getting blown away by what was happening. Basically, maybe it dropped off a litte…yea…right…from an 11 to a 10 on a scale of 1-10. Honestly, I know this can’t go on, but in my time hear in La Paz, this has to be the longest and most consistent run of fish I have ever seen!

PHOTO 1: Gary Tsunoda and Lois Masushige from Gardena CA spent 3 days of fishing with us and took him alot of mahi meat including a this pair of nice dorado taken just north of La Paz

I was worried that with the approaching full moon this dorado binge of the last 6 weeks surely had to come crashing down. Well, it didn’t crash, but it dipped just a tad, but most folks didn’t notice and we had a blast!

Getting sardines then trolling up some small bonita, we still went to the SE end of Cerralvo Island and got hammered. I have no idea why these fish congregate here this time of year, but we can’t be more than a mile off the beach. There weren’t as many of the big huge bulls of the past, but there were still some big toad fish and we still got our share of 40-50 pound bulls as well as a few striped marlin and sailfish. Additionally, maybe there weren’t as many bulls, but I have never seen so many big time female mahi and let me tell ya…the ladies could fight as hard as some of the big bulls…they had game! They had attitude.

Side note: In the last two weeks alot of our anglers have been showing me burned thumbs and blisters from trying to stop charging fish. In fact, I think I’ve seen about 10 thumbs in the last two weeks where human skin was sacrificed trying to stop spinning spools attached to dorado headed for the horizon. It was funny, but not funny at the same time!

PHOTO 2: The full moon did have an effect on the big squid at Las Arenas. They either disappeared for good or were forced to deeper waters by the full moon and we just can’t hunt them that deep! However, eaerlier in the week, the big uglies were still around. Vic Ochoa is a long time amigo and lives in Lakewood CA This is a “small one.” Others were twice this size. Chunked and cut squid made excellent tuna bait all week.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Beginning of the week, the key to everything was getting the big squid. Only problem is that the squid kept moving or going deeper and deeper. They were alot of fun to catch and surely one of the most interesting and weird creatures on the planet. Plus…the tuna love ’em.

Well, as the full moon approached it got more difficult to get the calamari. So, that meant getting live sardines. The tuna didn’t care for that much, but after a few days, they did start eating the sardines (so did the bonito and needlefish unfortunately). But it still produced 4-10 tuna per day in the 15-20 pound class with some larger fish up to 30.

First to the spot has the edge as the tuna will foam around the pangas and will eat just about anything and it’s the time to load up on the ahi!

There’s still roosterfish around along the beaches but more concentrated around Muertos Bay. As well, dorado will occasionally maraud through the tuna schools or were found south towards Cardonal.

Plenty of life in the water..blue whales, pilot whales, whale sharks, manta rays and porpoise can pop up on any given day! Water temps are in the high 80’s.

PHOTO 3 : You gotta love this. Joe Sunoda is 87-years-yound and can still put in 3 days of fishing in the hot Baja sun and put the hurt to big fat dorado like this one! He’s helped by Captain Martin on the “Mama’s Mink.” You gotta check out Joe’s great smile. May we all be so lucky to be able to do this like Joe!

FOOD THANK YOU!

Brian Cyr from San Diego brought down a topper! He and his wife got me two New York cheesecakes! Talk about a treat. I had to hoard them for a few days before deciding I could wait no longer. Incredible!

PHOTO 4: Ryan Hales was on his first trip to La Paz all the way from Utah. He slammed this bad boy at the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter InternationalWebsite: 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 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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SOLID DORADO AND TUNA FISHING KEEPS RODS BENT AT LAS ARENAS AND LA PAZ!

FISHING REPORT FOR OCTOBER 1, 2006

Wow! Just another fun week of fishing that simply rocked! There might have been a slow spot or two, but if you just kept your line in the water, soon enough, something was gonna gobble your worm…so to speak. Heavy ice chests were the rule of the week as happy anglers tried to figure out what to do with excess weight on their flights home!

PHOTO 1: Mitch Chavira, our good amigo, from Cardiff CA, hugsthis gorgeous roosterfish north of La Paz this late in the season. Mitch was initially handed a local scale and when he saw it said “64” he thought it meant “kilos” not “pounds.” Well, in pounds that would be about 130 pounds and would have shattered the current world record of 114 pounds! Turns out the scale was indeed set to pounds so it wasn’t a world record, but still a darned nice 64 pound pez gallo! The world record, by the way, just happened to have been set here in La Paz. Our average rooster the last two years has been 40 -100 pounds!

PHOTO 2 and 3: Cole Chavira seems to always do well here. (His dad hung the big rooster above). He’s only 8 years old, but has a quiver of big fish to his name. Here he stuck this huge 40 pound class dorado and did it all unassisted except in the photo you can see where dad tied some rope to the reel. Great team effort!

PHOTO 4: Mike Bacon of Indiana was on his first visit to us in La Paz and found himself sticking alot of dorado including this 45 pound beastie. He’s standing at Balandra Beach north of La Paz City.

PHOTO 5: Charlie “Stix” McGee is one of the most accomplished big game fishermen I know and also a famous high school music teacher from San Diego. Plus he’s a helluva nice guy! When he heard the big dorado were breaking, he played hookie on Friday and snuck across the border to Tijuana and jumped a plane for a quick weekend with us sticking this 30 pound class mahi off Espiritu Santo Island
PHOTO 6 : Al Lewis flew his own plane in from Indianapolis, Indiana for his first trip to La Paz and even wore his lucky orange boxer shorts to go fishing. Here he displays some of the fish he and his buddy caught along with the lucky underwear (which had fish printed on it!)

PHOTO 7: Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara come down about 3 times a year and always do well. They were here this week and had 3 days of tuna fishing to fill their coolers. They also brought me two In-N-Out double double burgers from Southern California too! That rocks!
PHOTO 8 : We put this baby on the scale and it topped my 50 pound mark! Eddie Leal is given a hand by his buddy Dave Roberts. Both are from Huntington Beach and caught several dorado just south of Muertos Bay in front of Cardonal. Eddie would have another similar fish the next day.
PHOTO 9: Scott Zimbler from Long Beach CA and his brother, Eric, finally made it down to us after trying all year, but getting wrapped up in the Aero Cal mess. They fished 3 days with us this week and got tuna from Las Arenas and dorado from La Paz.

AND NOW THE FISH REPORT!!!

Whether you fished Las Arenas or La Paz this week, you were gonna get fish! Some days one boat did better than another, but you couldn’t help but catch fish. With super weather (OK…it was HOT!) and warm water temps, the biggest problem for most anglers was what to do with the extra fish they had when trying to pack up to go home and trying to stay under the weight limits. Alot of guys were releasing fish or giving it away even BEFORE they put fish in the freezers and still had a problem when it came time to pack!

La Paz

How long can this go on? Other than that screwy Labor Day weekend when the hurricane hit, I cannot remember a dorado bite that has been so consistent; so good; with so many quality fish!

This is not “rocket science!” If you can hold a rod and keep from falling in the water, there’s fish to be caught. Mostly it entails going to get bait from the bait man at the islands north of town then coming right back towards La Paz and slow trolling or drifting live sardines or cut bonito strips just off Bonanza Beach on the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island. I mean, often we’re so close to shore you can see the ripples of sand about 30 feet under the pangas!

After you get hit, we fight the fish to the boat and keep it in the water looking for trailers. Not surprisingly, often 2, 3, or more fish follow it in. Throw bait then hold on because double, triple or quadruple hookups are not uncommon. That’s when it gets wild with fish going ballistic and guys screaming and lines crossing not to mention there’s probably other boats real close to yours also dealing with fish and joining in the melee as you try to keep your fish from crossing other lines or fouling with other boats. Way too much fun!

Las Arenas

There was a little tiny lull of tuna mid-week but at both ends, the tuna bit nicely at Las Arenas again for the 4th straight week. These are fun 15-25 pound footballs with occasional 30 pounders in there too. We’re not talking a far run to the fish, either. How about 100 yards in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas! The ticket is to go get some giant squid early (up to 80 pounders) just 1/4 mile offshore then be among the first boats to get into the foamers of tuna before all the rest of the boats show up. The tuna aren’t eating the live sardines. They are chewing up the chunks of giant squid we are using for bait. That’s why it’s so important to go hang these squid early in the morning!

In addition to the tuna and squid, the dorado bite picked up just south of Las Arenas too. Some nice 30-50 pound bulls were taken this week around Cardonal and roosters are still in the surf with some fun baby roosters tearing up the bait schools in Muertos Bay.

SPECIAL THANKS!

After you have been down here for months on end and working like we do seven-days-a-week and often grabbing whatever food you can shovel down standing up or while trying to work, it’s so incredibly great to get treated. Don’t get me wrong, for a guy who loves Mexican food anytime and any place, I ended up in the right spot, but to all of you who have been bringing me goodies from the states these past two weeks, you ROCK!!!! Jeff and Marianne…for the In-N-Out Double Double (animal style) burgers and Asian food goodies…to Don Melucci for more In-N-Out Burgers (and my neat wall plaque) …Ron and Sheila for the box of Kentucky Fried chicken (extra crispy)…Joe Robinson for the See’s candy (it didn’t melt!) and Krispy Kreme donuts…and Jackie Yamada and family for the Portugese sausage from Hawaii…YEAH!!!!!

We have a full week of fishermen here so I”ll keep you posted!!!!
That’s my story!
Jonathan

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TUNA AND DORADO CONTINUE TO BLOW UP FOR ANGLERS!

FISHING REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2006

PHOTO 1 : Dave Hansow of Grand Junction, Colorado is a westling coach and holds up a sweet 25 pound yellowfin tuna (we put it on the scale!) at Las Arenas beach that at a chunk of squid. After two days of fishing tuna and dorado Coach Hansow said he was “completely sore, tired and feeling old.”

PHOTO 2: Talk about a chunk of calamri! We used part of this for bait and we fried up the rest. Tony Betz of San Diego got this off Las Arenas lighthouse and Captain Jorge “Moscoron” gives him a hand. Many of the squid are even larger!

PHOTO 3: Don Melucci from San Diego always has a good trip. Here he shows off a nice rack of yellowfin tuna

PHOTO 4: Greg Perez and Brian Martin from Orange Co. CA got several ice chests full of dorado like this. Here’s they’re standing at Balandra Beach north of La Paz

PHOTO 5: Stewart Silva from Orange Co. CA had 3 days of this kind of dorado fishing this week!

PHOTO 6: Check out this 60 pound pargo (dog tooth snapper) ! This fat critter was caught by Greg Gomes from Northern CA. He’s assisted by Capt. Adolfo (“Yofo”) and Greg’s son, Dalondo. Greg actually hooked several of these before finally getting this monster out of the rocks near Las Arenas at a place we call “Castille.”

PHOTO 7 : Todd Brushwyler from Fontana CA got several fish like this 49 pound giant bull dorado. It was a good week for Todd who works for G & T guitars and says he’ll “hook me up!”

PHOTO 8: Isaac Cortez of Oxnard CA gets an assist from Capt. Eddie Carballo with this 47 pound dorado that was a personal best for Isaac. He fought the fish over an hour!

FISHING OFF THE CHARTS!!!!

Just another outstanding banner week of fishing! With air temperatures in the mid-90’s and water temps in the low 90’s, it was flat, sunny, warm and blue most of the week and again, the fish came to chew! It was almost one-stop shopping fishing and the kind of fall fishing La Paz is famous for.

LAS ARENAS

How easy is this? I was out on the water several times this week (check out all the photos!) and if you wanted tuna, this was surely tuna week, but this was sometimes silly. We’d push off the beach in the pangas and head about a half mile west of the Arenas lighthouse (that’s all of 10 minutes). We’d drop the big squid jigs and get our early morning wake up call pulling up these huge beasts from the deep! Some of these monsters are rolling at 50-70 pounds (see the photo of one of the “smaller guys!). It’s a workout pulling up one of these guys and that’s just to start the day.

It gets pretty funny because all the pangas are in tight and when the squid start coming up, all this stuff can be squirting all over with geysers of ink and water shooting all over the place and anglers grunting and laughing. You know how us guys are…give us a water balloon and a squirt gun and we’re easily entertained especially if you can soak your buddy! Tell ya what, if you’re not watching out, getting a jet full of squid water is like getting hosed with a jet spray and you just hope it’s not ink too! But some of these squid can hose 10 feet in the air! That’s some power!

Anyway…get some squid (pop some into the ice chest and bring it back to your hotel to fry some up!) and cut them into chunks. Then head right back to the beach. I mean…100 yards in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas!

Drop chunks into the water and stick your hook into another chunk and let it drift and WHAM!!! Tuna hook up! Earlier in the week the tuna were 35-40 pounds, but dropped to the 15-25 pound range later in the week. Also as the bite got more steady, more boats started showing up so the boats that showed up earlier in the week or even the boats that showed up earlier in the day before all the traffic showed up had an edge! Get there as early as possible!

Among the tuna, every now and then, dorado would also blow through as well. All in all a lot of fun and when all was said and done, the fishing spot is only 5 minutes and away from where we take off and only 100 yards or less from the beach!

Hot tip…if you can, bring a giant squid jig plus a 12 oz torpedo sinker if you can get your hands on one. A squid jig that is already weighted is a plus. My own personal ones weigh over a pound. Also, if you have 25 pound flurocarbon leader, after the tuna get shy with all the boats around, the fluro is a bonus. Just make sure you tell your skipper. Lastly, if your skipper hangs out even after it seems like the bite has shut off, it’s a trick we’ve been pulling. As the other boats move off to do other things, we’ve noticed that as the boats dwindle off…the tuna come back up! So, your skipper is being cagey and playing the numbers…just be patient!

LA PAZ

What can I say? It’s madness…sheer utter dorado madness every since the hurricane earlier this month! I don’t know what happened! Did the hurricane drop some mutant nuclear stuff in the water? All of a sudden, all those punk dorado we had turned into steroid mutant beasts! I kid you not…if you ever wanted a trophy dorado, the last few weeks have been nothing short of magnificent. A “small” dorado right now is about 20 pounds! The “larger” variety can be…well…most of our scales just don’t go that high, but some of my captains have estimated some fish up to 70 pounds!!! Think about that.

If you look at the photos above, the largest there is 49 pounds! Imagine what a 60 or 70 pound toad might look like and you get an idea.

Basically, we’ve been doing most of our damage at Espiritu Santo Island. There was one day (Saturday) when it was completely snotty and windblown but even then the mahi still big like dogs! The fish have been right about where the island splits in two on either the west or east side of the island. Using slow trolled sardines or small caballitos as well as strips of fresh bonito, you wait until you get ripped, then throw bait and wait until you see the “flashes” of green shoot through then you’d better have your guns ready and back up rods all lined up because it can go fast and furious in nano-seconds! I’m serious…if you can keep the school around, it’s slash and burn time and you’ve got no time to be tying on new hooks. If you hesitate a moment the school swims over to torment the next boat!!! And you have to start rolling again. But…if you’re ready to play…it can be incredible 1, 2, 3, or 4 rods going at the same time until your arms fall off. Some of these fights on the larger mahi are taking over an hour to get the fish to the boat and I cannot begin to tell you how many stories I’ve heard of “larger fish” that simply got away; got unbuttoned while jumping or even…BITING THROUGH the leader material!

Whatever you do or have in your hand…I highly recommend bringing at least 40 pound string or 40 pound leader material to splice to your main line! These fish will eat the 50 and 60 pound string as long as your bait is swimming naturally! One day we tied on a small bonito to 50 pound string and it got blasted, but the dorado merely took the bait and then swam around the boat like a sealion tossing the little bonito in the air and catching it the swimming and tossing it in the air again! Great entertainment but hard for me to keep my angler from jumping the gun and pulling the trigger on the fish…especially because it was about a 40 pounder. However, what happened was that the big fish dropped his “toy” and a smaller fish zoomed in like a kid stealing a french fry and running for the door and grabbed the bonito and took of with it! Way too much fun!

I’m exhausted and fired up just writing about this stuff! Today is Sunday and I’m not on the water for the first time in several days so I could get this report out to you plus I have to send folks to the airport and bring new ones in, but I’m back on the water again Monday with clients then most of this week so I’m totally amped! I hope this bite stays hot!

AIRLINE ALERT

Just for the fun of it to see if I could ruffle some feathers, I walked into the Aero Cal office here in La Paz with my handful of tickets. I put on my “game” face and acted angry. I went to the first girl at the counter and demanded a refund. She started laughing. “No refunds, Sorry!” In fact, all 4 girls at the counter (the place was empty) started grinning and gigling at me as if I had on the wrong colored socks or my fly was open. It was like listening to 4 parrots..”No refunds! Sorry!” ….”No refunds! Sorry!” one after the other. How could I not crack up too. I walked out smiling. I have already applied to have my tickets reversed by my credit card company anyway, but just wanted to see what Aero Cal would say…

One good piece of news…I’ve already told you that Alaska starts flying her to La Paz Oct 30th and quite a few of you have taken advantage of it to book trips in November. I just heard that Nov 15th, Alaska will probably start flying here from San Francisco as well so all you Bay people…head’s up!

That’s my story! (my fingers are tired!)
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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INCREDIBLE TROPHY DORADO AND TUNA FISHING RIPS LINES AND BREAKS RODS!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR SEPT. 17, 2006

PHOTO 1 : Get Bent Sportfishing Group from the Santa Barbara/ Ventura CA area had several monster days of fishing with fish between 35-over 50 pounds (bottomed out the scales). Here L-R are Tood Brushwyler, Joe “Pineapple” Caricungan, Hank Gonzalez, Larry Brussard, Bill Sutton, Isaac “Icee” Cortez. You should have see the fish that were still in the box!

Photo 2: Mike “Flipper” Anderson of Ventura stuck this huge monster bull dorado off the East side of Espiritu Santo Island on live bait. We estimate it might have been a 60 pounder as it bottomed out the 50 pound scale we had. It was Flippers largest fish.

Photo 3: This is also the Get Bent Sportishing Group, but a different day than the one above! Left to right are Hank Gonzalez, Larry “Buzzard” Brussard, Todd Brushwyler, “Bajadave” Gutierrez, Mike “Flipper” Thompson, Fernando Garcia, Joe Caricungan and Duffy Shropshire are having trouble holding up their fish for the photo!

PHOTO 4: Dan Fedorka’s Group from California and Arizona are all from Fedorka Construction. Dan is holding the big dorado 2nd from the right. These guys had some much fish they had to get extra ice chests after 3 outstanding days of fish pulling.

LET THE PHOTOS DO THE TALKING!!! INCREDIBLE BIG TIME FISHING THIS WEEK!

Well, it seems like we dodged the full impact of Hurricane Lane, but are already watching something to the south that is a “tropical depression” that is only called “T-14.” It doesn’t have a name yet, but everyone is so sensitive to storms this season that watching weather has become something everyone does as a past time and trades information back and forth. Most conversations start out, “Have you heard the latest…?”

Although Lane didn’t hit us in the face, it did cause some problems. We did have some strong winds and some rain forcing us to cancel some of our boats as well as strips over the weekend to Las Arenas. We also had some pretty rough seas. For those of our clients who decided to cancel, I think you made the right decision. At the time you made the decision, there was every indication that Lane would take the same track as the deadly Hurricane John two weeks ago. At the very least, it looked like the airport was going to be closed as well as the ports and the roads for coming up from Cabo would have been closed. I’m glad you decided to forego the trip on the side of safety.

On to the fishing…!!!!

LA PAZ FISHING…

This was maybe one of the best weeks of fishing this entire season and we’ve had some great weeks. Just check out the photos. It was almost one-stop shopping and it seemed like the fish got bigger as the week went on. They got bigger and thicker! On the La Paz side, steady limits of dorado and most were huge bulls. Fishing both the east and west side of Espiritu Santo Island near the gap and working the current and debris lines, we had an incredible number of 40-60 pound fish (on the scales) and some days that was the ONLY side we got! There were so many stories of “the fish that I lost next to the boat” that I have to imagine there were even larger fish that got away. I have been stacking dorado fillets in the hotel freezers all week! Oh…also giant squid are in the area too and make some great fried calamari for dinner!

LAS ARENAS FISHING…

For Las Arenas, limits of tuna came up late in the week where anglers were pulling away from too many boiling fish. These were a better grade of fish with most in the 20-40 pound class size. I’ll have some photos next week. However, these were the kinds of fish we’ve been waiting for. The fish came to chew and tore the heck out’ve some of the anglers who had never had a tuna in their hands other than one that pressed between two slices of bread.

In addition to the tuna, dorado keep breezing through the area and it seems like the pargo continue to bite as well. Can’t get much better except telling you that big squid also showed up! Bring those big squid jigs and a heavy lead!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: 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 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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DORADO MAKE BIG COMEBACK AFTER STORM!
La Paz Fishing Report for Sept. 10, 2006

PHOTO: Captain Kiki gives an assist to Jimmy Peters of Riverside CA who stayed extra days in La Paz with his dad so he’d have a chance to fish after being stuck indoors for almost 3 days during the storm!
PHOTO: Downtown La Paz floods during the hurricane. This is looking west from the Malecon near Carlos and Charlies’ Restaurant. The water is about 2 feet deep here.
PHOTO: La Concha Beach Resort’s swimming pool filled with mud. The hotel took it the worst with no power or running water for days and having to evacuate it’s guests. Windows were blown out and numerous trees fell as well as chunks of roof and walls. Working round-the-clock, the hotel cleaned up and got itself spruced up and repaired.
PHOTO: Howling hurricane winds up to 115 mph. did extensive damage to La Paz. Huge palm and coconut trees were uprooted and tossed like straws!

PHOTO: Within days of the storm, fish charged back. Here, Todd Brushwyler, a professional bass fisherman from Fontana CA and Fernando Garcia from Oxnard CA heft a 42 and 45 pound dorado respectively. Fernando’s fish was a blaster as it fried his Newell reel on it’s initial run and a second rod and reel had to be spliced on.
PHOTO: Chris Sutton and Tamara Eberhardt from Ojai CA had a great first day of fishing out of Las Arenas with tuna and dorado.
PHOTO: Tamara Emberhardt was on her first Mexico trip and missed the tuna, but got into the dorado.
PHOTO: Joe “Pineapple” Cariguncan from Oxnard CA said this 28 pound bull dorado dragged him around the boat 3 or 4 times before he got it to gaff.

FLAT SEAS AND HUNGRY DORADO GET LA PAZ BACK ON TRACK AFTER HURRICANE JOHN SPANKS THE CITY!

Well, we seemed to have bounced back since the hurricane bit time! Before the storm it was WFO on dorado and tuna and I was worried that the hurricane had ruined things but with each day it gets progressively better. The tuna really haven’t come back full turbo, but the dorado fishing ratchets up each day. On the La Paz side, there is so much debris in the water it seems like there are acres of tree trunks, grass, branches and other stuff that got washed in into the ocean. Of course underneath, dorado lurk and it’s been a lot of fun. Fish are hitting on both the east and west side of Espiritu Santo.

This is NOT complicated fishing. Live bait on a hook is about all it takes. Just hold onto the rod because we’ve had a lot of guys lose big fish all week! If you hit the right spot, it’s one-stop shopping and some boats have had to come back early with anglers that are just too tired to go on! Same with Las Arenas with some solid dorado fishing and big bulls in the 40-50 pound class not uncommon. Roosterfish and pargo are also still available ,but strangely we got some sierra which are a cold water fish and we don’t expect them until November or December.

We’re digging out from the storm! It’s been awhile since I’ve gone 4 days with no shower and even I couldn’t escape myself! Like alot of folks, I finally checked into a hotel for a night.

BTW…check it out. Aero Cal (the airline we love to hate) has fares as low as $133 right now from Tijuana to La Paz and back!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: 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 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja 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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