Tailhunter Fish Report

DORADO AND TUNA AMP IT UP –THEN HURRICANE JOHN SHOWS UP!

La Paz Las Arenas Fishing Report for Sept. 4, 2006

Sorry this is late. I think I’ve been late only a handful of times in 10 years of doing this…but the hurricane cut me off from everything…

PHOTO: Shawn James of West Hills CA crammed alot of fishing into just two days and did about as well as anyone could do putting the hurt to alot of fishing including this sweet bull taken off Isla Espiritu Santo. Here’s his first person report…

“I fished in La Paz for the first time with Jonathan Roldan and Tailhunter International the 25th and 26th of Aug. and it was awesome. On Friday using a Calstar 970 and a new Shimano Torium 20 with 40lb leader I landed 7 beautiful Dorado, one estimated at 40lbs and the other 45lbs. The dorado bite was very good with fish boiling on the chum right at the boat. On Sat. we made the run to Las Arenas where I hooked up with my first ever tuna followed by two more with the largest around 25-30lbs. The tuna bite was trickier with the 20lb fluorocarbon and Captain Victor being the difference between getting tuna or not. Back to back solid fishing days in La Paz.

Jonathan, Thanks again for unbelievable fishing and a first rate operation”

BEFORE THE HURRICANE

IT ALMOST COULDN’T GET MUCH BETTER!

The week started on such a spectacular high note! Folks…the fishing this past week almost could not have gotten better for the most part. Tuna, dorado, marlin, sailfish, pargo…

Then nature stepped in and stepped ON the party as Hurricane John turned it all topsy-turvy. Read on…

La Paz Fishing

Ever have one of those fishing trips where you think you’re so good you should have your own TV show? For most of my anglers all week fishing on the La Paz side, it was “Dorado Slam.” There were a few slow boats here and there, but for the most part, it was as WFO as you could want it to be. Fish everywhere!

Boats were all over as well. From San Juan de La Costa to various parts of the island banks, the boats pushed, but they sure nailed fish. Big bulls up to the 40-50 pound class were not uncommon. Sardines, mackerel, slow trolled bonito slabs and lures all produced like gangbusters. It was THAT good.

Here’s the first person report from Dan Fedorka:

“What an unbelievable trip ! Great weather, great captains, and wide open fishing action !!
Thank YOU for putting it all together and making this trip as flawless as the previous years. Everything that could go right did ! Bait every morning, and Dorado till your arms fell off. Throw in a handful of Marlin and a dozen of Tuna ! What can I say? Does it get any better than what we experienced? I think not !
I highly recommend Aeromexico from LAX. A few extra dollars, but well worth it.
No problems at all ! As you know that doesn’t happen very often.
I will forward you pictures once everyone recovers from all the FUN !
Be safe with the up coming storm. See you next year. “

Las Arenas Fishing

For our Las Arenas anglers, the tuna continued to be hard chargers! For lots of anglers it was a first time pulling on the bullet train wec all the YFT…yellowfin tuna! If you hit the spot, the fish we on fire boiling all over the boat. From Pescadero to the south all the way up to the Punta Arena lighthouse, there were schools to be found. Fun-sized 15-30 pound fish were the norm, but the largest fish were actually the dorado that would come slicing through the tuna schools picking up the chum and hammering some poor guy that wasn’t expecting it and watching his “tuna” turn into an aerobatic dorado! (I really should have made more guys eat hearts this week since so many of them caught their first dorado or tuna!)

Hat’s off to:

1. All of Danny Fedorka’s Group from Arizona who caught more fish than they knew what to do with over 3 days. (Get your stories straight guys on who did what and where each night…one “consistent” story line is all you need!)

2. Noah and Lucas Love from the San Fernando Valley area of CA near Los Angeles. Fishing with their dad, Steve, this 10 and 7 year old were originally supposed to be here during spring break, but had to cancel due to Aero California and re-scheduled to come this past week. The first day…5 dorado plus lost 2 blue marlin and finally hooking a striper. Day 2, half-a-dozen yellowfin tuna (told you boys they were strong!), pargo, snapper and dorado. Day 3 – another striped marlin!

3. Tim Farrell – came with his wife Angie from Oceanside CA – finally got his rooster he’s been chasing. In fact, he got two!

4. Chris Cribbs and Mike from Naked Lures – each day was better than the last! Roosters and dorado all over.

5. Shawn James from Los Angeles – First timer. Busted his Baja cherry in grand style on just about everything that could swallow a hook. Thanks for all the great Disney songs too. Man knew ’em all!

6. Charlie Di Carlo and Ray Darius – For keeping the good smiles and attitude and staying upright most of the time and fishing despite not feeling so good!

THEN THE HURRICANE SHOWED UP!

FRIDAY

It got ugly by Friday. Rain and wind hit us as Hurricane John finally showed up. It wasn’t as strong as predicted (ast least that first day…we were all goofing and having fun) , but enough that we had to cancel boats. Felt bad for the anglers that were here especially Jarrod Groff’s group from the Temecula area. Many of his group were first timers and only had two days to be here and then the storm dropped a king-sized pelican poop on the whole trip. I know how disappointed they were. They kept great attitudes, however. Everyone did.

Parts of Cabo and the East Cape had to be evacuated and we got hit with wind and rain although not as bad as it could have been. Still, there were long lines at the grocery stores and gas stations and we did have to tape up our windows as everyone still remembered hurricane “Marty” that whacked us a few years ago and sunk over a hundred boats and killed a few folks.

FRIDAY NIGHT HOWL

So much for an “easy hurricane…”

Amid “hurricane parties” and people having fun in the rain and mild winds, everyone went to bed. The rain got stronger and stronger coming down in sheets. Warnings were posted not to leave our rooms.

About 2 a.m. we were shaken awake with a howl that sounded as if we were suddenly stuck in a jet engine. It was deafening. Wind and rain hammered us. I could hear glass exploding and doors ripped off hinges. Huge trees were broken in half. Rain hit sideways and to stick your head outside risked getting decapitated by flying debris, pieces of brick and wood and other flying objects. People pushed furniture against doors and mattresses against windows. All electricity flickered then died and in the din of wind it was total darkness.

Crazy amigo Jarrod Groff was out on his balcony with his camera ( I wanna see some of thos photos) and almost got blown off his second story terrace. He said at one point he let go of his big camera and it was standing straight out from his body. One group of gals from Dallas had their window explode on them while they were fighting to keep the wind from tearing off their front door!

Then, it all stopped. An eerie silence as I realized the eye was passing over. From the sound of a passing train to absolutely nothing. People started to come out’ve their rooms, but others walked the hallways telling people get to back inside. In the dark, transformers on power lines were exploding and big trees continued to fall.

And it started again from a different direction and everyone ran for cover as more rain and wind snarled and gusts estimated at over 115 mph tore through trees, buildings and roofs. Rainwater was pushed under doors and window…the ones that weren’t outright shattered and rooms began to flood as we started packing towels and rags under doors in an effort to stem the waters.

By morning, strong winds continued with sheets of rain, but it was clear that the worst had passed by Saturday and the devastation could be measured. Huge trees were uprooted. Power lines were down. Giant branches were thrown through windows. Cascades or water tumbled down crumbling walls. Roofs that existed the night before were simply no longer there. Ceiling tiles hung loosly. Mud was everywhere and rivers of water gushed. Wind had punched ragged holes in cement and drywall. And we began to dig out…

I ran shuttles in my mini-van back and forth across town all day in the rain so that folks could get to the store to buy food and water. It was like a war zone. I have been through 6 of these now and this was a doozy. I have never had the eye of a hurricane pass directly overheard. Town is a mess but cleaning up. We’ll be fine!

THE AFTERMATH

Only this evening, have I gotten internet to be able to post my report. We have been 3 days with no running water, cooked food, electric, phones, toilets or lights. In fact, I am the only one left here at La Concha Beach Resort. Everyone else has been evacuated to other hotels. It’s hot a humid and we’ve been digging out of mud for the last two days.

But…I did get four boats out today! We were the only fleet with boats out from what I could tell and everyone got dorado! It will only get better! There’s alot of green water out there and we had to go far for the fish. However, there’s an incredible amount of debris floating around. Give it a few days to gather up and I think we’re gonna have some spectacular dorado fishing again!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115E-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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YELLOWFIN TUNA FINALLY JOIN THE PARTY at LAS ARENAS. DORADO MAKE STRONG COMEBACK at LA PAZ!

PHOTO: Jeff Sakuda from Montebello CA and Ron Imada from Whittier CA were there the first day the tuna bite went off taking these just north of Punta Pescadero

PHOTO 2: Fresh sashime and sushi. Jeff Sakuda (middle) is joined by Capt. Jorge
“Moscorone” on the right and Carlos “El Chofer” from La Paz

PHOTO 3 : Roger Van Steenkiste from Phoenix AZ might be 80-years-old but he can still pull on fish. This was his first return to La Paz in 20 years and we put him with the same captain (Victor) he had in 1986! Jerell Mulhollan (right) got his first tunas ever and was all set to eat the hearts. He would later get a 45 pound rooster and his largest dorado, also his first.

PHOTO: Fred Henkle (New York) and Mike Bradley (North Carolina) got in on the tuna bite south of Las Arenas landing fish up to 30 pounds on light tackle. They also racked up the dorado on the La Paz side later in the week. Mike worked all week for his first marlin and finally got one on the last day in the last half hour to top his trip.

PHOTO 5: Smiles say it all. Nothing like yellowfin tuna and a good day on the water with buddies! Jerrell and Roger strike a pose on Las Arenas beach near the lighthouse.

PHOTO 6: Joey Fuschetti is a high school coach from Irvine CA and is a frequent Las Paz visitor. He’s fished with us for alot of years and insists that using papaya rinds in the chum line got the dorado boiling as he worked Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 7: Ken Melendres of Laguna Hills CA got this beefy sailfish off Espiritu Santo Island. Even though this was his first billfish, they gamely had planned to release the fish, but were unable to after it had swallowed the bait. The meat was distributed to hungry families in La Paz.

BIG FISH ROLL WITH TUNA, DORADO, SAILFISH and MARLN!

Wow, what a week of ups and downs! Happily, there were a lot more “ups” than “downs” and most of them involved pumping fishing rods up and down and being tied onto fish! There were a few low spots..like wondering all week if we were going to get hammered by a storm or hurricane, but (knock on wood), we dodged it and the fish came to chew! Great week overall! Two fins up!

La Paz

Started slow. We dinked and plinked here and there. We had big baits and small baits, but the fish just wouldn’t rally. Most of the catch was dorado and darn…the ones that were caught were mostly LARGE! But it could be a long day until something came along and busted your chops!

However, as the week went on…oh wow…gangbusters on the dorado! These fish were not only quantity…they were freakin’ QUALITY fish too! Quite a few fish in the 30-50 pound class just revved and rolling and barking and flipping and beating the hell out’ve the anglers. Several days there, the boats were done by noon and then spent hours cleaning fish at Balandra Beach. Guys were coming back shell-shocked! One afternoon, every one of my anglers laid down to take a “15-minute” nap after fishing. Not a single one woke up for the dinner bell. Everyone of them passed out dead tired!

It tapered just a tad at week’s end, but overall just outstanding dorado fishing with a bit of marlin tossed in. No one complained and a lot of happy tired grins

Las Arenas

It started early in the week with a bang as yellowfin tuna finally showed up to the party. We wait for these fish all year and using the report from one of the commercial pangeros our fleet motored about an hour south of Muertos Bay. About 1/4 mile off the beach, tossing handfuls of bait and the YFT’s came to play! Wham! Wham! Fish grabbing air! Fish inhaling bait! Smaller fish under the boat running through the chum lines and larger fish just outside teasing and blowing bait out’ve the water!

There were a few days there when we pulled away to head home and fish were still boiling! Now THAT’s solid fishing! Sometimes when too many pangas would show up ,the fish went to ground but I had our people put on small rubber core sinkers or start chunking with dead bait and BENDO! We’d be on again.

One other thing, using flurocarbon line sure seemed to make a difference on the tuna. Light fluro in the 20-25 range was the difference between having 2 or 3 more fish than the next boat.

The cool thing was as the week went on the fish moved up closer to our beaching areas such that right in front of the Las Arenas lighthouse at the drop off the tuna decided to hang out. But…on top it, dorado rolled in as well as some amberjack, pompano and several huge roosterfish were also caught! Just great variety. Even a big sierra was caught as well as some cabrilla and pargo.

Waters are 86 degrees. Air temps are 98-102 and the sun is blazing!

AIRLINE

Heads up! Delta Airlines officially starts flying Dec. 15th from Los Angeles to La Paz. Yay.

Aero Cal, while still dragging their feet (?) about flying out of Los Angeles has specials out of Tijuana as low as $133 one way.

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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YELLOWFIN TUNA FINALLY BOIL FOR OUR LAS ARENAS BOATS AT END OF WEEK BUT VARIETY OF SPECIES PACES THE BITE FOR LA PAZ/LAS ARENAS AREA

Photo 1: Ryan Rogers of San Diego hefts a trophy-sized cabrilla (Mexican seabass) taken off the Las Arenas area. Considering how late in the year it is, we’re getting some super cabrilla right now.

Photo 2: Larry Rogers of San Diego (Ryan’s Dad) holds a toad of a bull dorado taken on the La Paz side near Espiritu Santo Island. Is this a big dorado or what? Larry and Ryan got several major league dorado.

Photo 3: Ryan Rogers holds one of several species of pargo you can catch right now. This particular one is a great-eating barred pargo (pargo mullato).

Photo 4: John Drucker came all the way down from Oregon and tagged this great bull dorado.

Photo 5: Robert and Cindi Bourque from Utah had a banner day fishing Las Arenas. Bob commented that he wished he had brought his fly rod as they took a number of different species including bonito, dorado, pargo and jacks.

TUNA COME TO CHEW AND BIG DORADO HIGHLIGHT INTERESTING WEEK

Folks, in the last 8 hours, I’ve had to re-write this fishing report 3 different times because things changed so rapidly! Basically it was kind of a s0-so week where you could really rip into some fish…or not… but some things happened late week that really got things fired up…

LA PAZ
Typical late summer fishing with big dorado pacing things. It was hardly wide-open, but for our La Paz anglers, having mackerel as baits got some of the bigger dorado to bite as well as marlin, but it could be a long lethargic day that suddenly erupts when a big dorado hits. Our boats worked far north of Espiritu Santo or on the West side of the island near Isla Ballena. There’s definitely a lot of dorado around, but often wouldn’t eat as we found many had a lot of squid in their stomachs. Several 60-70 pound dorado were caught. It really depended on boats. You could have a really slow day one day then the next be the king boat of the day.

The secret is to fish more than one day. Put time at the rail. Bring your best game. There were so many times where guys would come back looking disapointed and not have good fish counts. However, upon talking to them, I’d find out that they hooked some large fish but then they lost the fish due to lack of experience; not being ready; or simply dumb luck. I had three different guys this week tell me they had dorado over 60 pounds on the line but two of the guys told me “their hooks came untied (pigtailed!!!) which is just inexcusable. If you don’t know how to tie a proper hook don’t be embarrassed to have the captain tie the darned thing. Another guy said he thought it was a small dorado so he didn’t want to “put down his beer.” Well, the big dorado not only took his beer but ate his lunch too. You don’t get many chances!

LAS ARENAS

For Las Arenas, the buzz late in the week went out as 40 pound tuna breezed through the area in front of the Las Arenas lighthouse, but moved fast and wouldn’t eat the baits then 40-60 pound tuna crashed commercial boats south at Punta Pescadero, but were also moving too fast by the time sport pangas moved in. That was on Saturday!

Well, on Sunday, the fleets went full bore to the area to see if the tuna would come up and sure enough…yea! The summer tuna bite was on. No way to know how long this will last, but according to anglers, fish were “boiling all over.” The key was to get fish early. As more boats joined in the fish went to ground. Smarter anglers used flurocarbon and weights and got more of the YFT’s. These were a nice grade of 20-30 pound tuna! The other trick was to simply move off the spot and wait until other boats moved in then ninja back in and stealth fish as the only boat and throw bait…and watch the tuna come to par-TAY!

We’ll be exploring both areas more. In the meantime, debris lines from recent rains kept small to medium dorado in the area and inshore rooster and pargo fishing kept light tackle anglers going. It’s HOT and HUMID down here!

I was out several times this week with clients and I’m surprised at how different things are from one place to another and how it seems there’s nothing consistent right now. One day there’s only big mackerel or caballitos for bait. Another day, there’s only sardines. Another day the sardines are hard to find. Likewise, even the water and climate seem to be all over the place. Some mornings it’s gusty and bumpy and folks are feeling ill then an hour later, you’re praying for a breeze as the waters go so calm that you can’t tell where the sky ends and the water begins because there’s not a ripple on the water and sea and sky are the same color.

DESERT LIT UP WITH BLOOMS

Tell you one thing, the desert is probably as beautiful right now as you will ever see it. There’s been a lot of rain either in gentle showers or sporadic torrents all month and the desert is in full bloom. It doesn’t even look like the same country! Imagine Mexico being GREEN! Flowers are popping up all over. Grass is growing. The hills and mountains are a virtual carpet of green. Cactus are all puffed up from soaking up so much water and even the desert cattle are looking a little chubby! Great time to be in the countryside.

Oh…also tons of dolphin, whales and manta rays out here right now. Great show!

PROMISING STUFF HAPPENING

As we fished Las Arenas, there’s some debris lines building from stuff that washed out of the arroyos. It’s starting to gather up and form more distinct lines with wood and dried grass and parts of trees floating around out there. I think given a few days, these could be some great spots for dorado in the coming week or so.

Likewise for the tuna. It was right about this time the last two years that tuna popped up off Las Arenas. On Sunday they finally came to chew to the south of us and we got into some nice grade of fish. Will they stick around? Will the continue to move north? My captains seem to think so! Fingers crossed. We’ve been waiting for tuna all season.

FULL OF FRUIT?

Lastly, Joe Fuschetti has been a long time Tailhunter client and amigo. Joe INSISTS that he has found the latest and greatest thing to get dorado to burn the drags. Joe and his buddies Ken and Tim were off Espiritu Santo Island and fishing was slow. They were dragging both live and dead bait. Joe had some chopped fruit for breakfast and had also brought some fresh papaya on board. Tossing the green skins and orange-colored peels into the chum line, Joey tells me that suddenly fish started boiling. Bonito came to the rods and bird started diving. In quick succession they nailed a dorado. Joey tossed other fruit (watermelon and mango into the chum and nothing happened). He then fired off more papaya into the chumline and the fish boiled again and they got two more dorado as well as bonito! He thinks the orange color of the papaya did it, although the fish would not boil on sliced mango! Go figure. Anyway, Joe is so insistent that this works that he was even willing to put up or shut up and said I could post his e-mail address (He’s a coach for the San Diego School Dist). It’s JFuschetti@NMUSD.US. Don’t write me. Write him! I warned him, but he says this is his new secret weapon for dorado.

TRAVEL NOTES

Travel restrictions seem to have eased up a bit coming down here. No one is reporting any big problems with security but give yourself some extra time just-in-case. Also, I’ve had a number of clients coming through Tijuana now that Aero Cal and Avolar Air are flying to La Paz from there and all of them are raving at how easy it is.

Finally…Check your internet. Delta Air starts flying down here in December!

CALL WWW.DRUGLORDCHARTERS.COM!

Lastly, the notorious druglord cartel bad guy from Tijuana Javier Arrellano Felix was not one our of OUR boats! Thanks to all of you who e-mailed me during the week. The cartel king is alleged to have been responsible for all kinds of nasty things in TJ and other areas from assassinations to mass murder. He was busted early this week by the U.S. Coast Guard on a charter boat called “Dock Time” with 8 others while fishing. According to reports, they were fishing 15 miles outside of La Paz.

I had newspapers and magazines asking me for interviews or asking if I could find out who owned the boat. Everyone was buzzing trying to find out about the boat. Well, we’ve never even heard of that boat down here and it must be a big one to have 8 anglers on it as well as crew. Hope he was pre-paid and doesn’t ask for a refund!

HEAVEN IN A BUN

Muchisimas gracias to Marianne Suguwara and Jeff Sakuda who brought me two In-N-Out double-double animal style burgers this week. You have no idea how good those tasted. Marianne let them cool then wrapped each one carefully in wax paper then into a small zip lock bag and then into a larger zip lock bag. They were virtualy perfect when they arrived. I zapped one in my microwave to put a little heat on it and the second one I took out on the panga and savored every single bite. THAT’s what I’m talking about!!! I LOVE Mexican food, but after a whole season, things with salsa start to wear pretty thin. Chomping double double burgers was food of the gods!

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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BIG DORADO PACE COMEBACK AFTER SLOW STARTING WEEK!

Photo: California Highway Patrol officer Randy Lyons from Elk Grove CA ran into a few days of tough fishing but hung in there and finished with a flourish nailing some nice bull dorado, his first ever striped marlin and this solid 42 pound bull (on the scale) which was his personal best. He caught it east of Espiritu Santo with popular Capt. Raul “Papa” Martinez of the Tailhunter Fleet.

BIGGER DORADO TURN A ROUGH WEEK AROUND!

Early in the week we got double whammied with a full moon and rainy windy weather. I think those were some of the poorest fishing days of the year. Local water temps dropped a good 4-8 degrees! However, by the end of the week we were on the upswing. Still not wide open, but the dorado that were caught were all generally trophy sized mahi. Marlin…especially striped marlin and occasional blues were also on the chew as things got back to normal. Even Las Arenas picked up with inshore species such as roosters, cabrilla, big pargo and even a few stray yellowtail got in the counts with some nice dorado as well as a few wahoo. The recent storms put out some nice lines of brush and trash that had washed down from the hills and by the end of the week dorado were hanging out under the current lines.

NEW TRAVEL REGS

Better give yourself extra time at the airport amigos. I’m sure you’ve heard about most of these new regulations. For East Coast travelers, they are not allowing ANY carry-on luggage of any kind except those that fit the exception.

So far, however, for travelers to Mexico, you can still carry stuff on, but check out the new stuff below:

US customs and Border Protection as well as the Transportation Security Administration (TASA) will be increasing enforcement efforts in international arrival areas, including the use of advanced targeting tools, special response teams including baggage and aircraft search teams, baggage X-ray equipment, specially-trained canine units, and explosive detection technology. (You thought taking off your shoes were bad…)

No liquids or gels of any kind will be permitted in carry on baggage. Such items must be in checked baggage. This includes all beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, tooth paste, hair gel and other items of similar consistency. (Well, there goes the Grecian formula…)

Exception: Baby formula, breast milk (that’s a quote) , or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines, which all must be presented for inspection at the checkpoint. Beverages purchased in the boarding area (beyond the checkpoint) must be consumed before boarding because they will not be permitted on board the aircraft. Pack lightly and use clear plastic bags to facilitate screening. For international flights arrive 3.5 hours prior to departure.

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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DORADO AND OTHER FISH GET SCRATCHY ALONG WITH WEATHER – La Paz Fishing Report for Aug. 5, 2006

PHOTO: Dave Berthold came all the way from New Jersey to “see what West Coast humidity was like.” He also got several nice days of dorado fishing taking a number of fat bulls like this hefty dorado fishing north of La Paz.

SCRATCH FISHING FOR LAS ARENAS AND LA PAZ SO HAVE YOUR “A” GAME WITH YOU

Interesting week. I think we’re still adjusting a bit from that storm two weeks ago and continued iffy weather where it’s blazingly sunny one day then windy and snotty the next. It seemed like we were coming back pretty nicely. Maybe we weren’t getting the numbers of dorado previously but we made up for in quality what we lost in quantity as most of the fish were really nice bulls.

Then, late in the week, we had a tiny little squall and the fish either lockjawed or pushed far outside. I mean way outside north of El Bajo or on the edges of our perimeter east of Cerralvo or south almost to the East Cape. Some marlin grabbed lures, but by this last Saturday, it was considerably slower. I think the fish are just re-adjusting. Inshore fishing for Las Arenas and La Paz is still good. Some pargo hanging in the rocks as well as some roosterfish. But really got scratchy over the weekend.

On both sides, if you were on the right boat you got a fish or two or three. If you weren’t or you weren’t on your game, it was disappointing. There’s fish to be caught right now, but if you aren’t sharp or miss an opportunity, that could be the one or two bites of the day. Everyone late in the week is scattering looking for the bite. Nothing concentrated so it’s a pick. If the weather stabilizes, I think things will settle down.

Don’t know where the wahoo and tuna went, but there was a quick jag of tuna outside Cerralvo that quickly disappeared, and there was a wahoo or two hooked, but nothing stuck.

It’s hot and muggy and partially cloudy here.

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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SUMMER STORM MARS DORADO BITE BUT BIG BULLS CHEW POST RAIN – La Paz Fishing for July 30, 2006

Photo: Blake Cook was on his first trip from Utah and got this nice bull dorado. N0. . . he didn’t catch the fish in the desert. He’s standing at the nude beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

MOTHER NATURE SPANKS THE FISHING

Not much to tell you! We had one of the best dorado bites in the history of mankind happening then this week, tropical storm Emelia came and shut it all down with rain and wind for almost 3 days and we had to cancel boats. Since the storm ended, however, it looks like it washed a lot of stuff into the water that’s already starting to shape up in long current lines for the dorado so we expect a nice comeback.

Boats late in the week were finding some dorado and marlin. Actually, the dorado that were found were all big bulls! Bob Sayre of Chicago got 4 fish over 40 pounds. No dinks! (Of course, Bob thought the fish were all 60 pounders, but the captain said they were all 40-50 pound fish legitimately). Temps are back to the mid-90’s and the coming week looks clear. Water temps are interestingly just about the same as the air…92.

AERO CALIFORNIA

The airline we love to hate now says no flights before Aug. 10th. However, check this out…don’t count on it. All of a sudden, they finally put up their website at http://www.aerocalfornia.com/. Yes, it looks like they will fly. Want the bad news? No where on their website is Los Angeles or any other international destination listed, We been jammed! It looks like they will only be a domestic carrier. Rat bastards! Here’s what I’d do if I were holding an Aero Cal ticket:

1. Contact your credit card company to reverse charges
2. Fly Aero Mexico / Aero Litoral (same company) to La Paz
3. Fly any number of carriers into Cabo and we’ll arrange shuttles back up to La Paz

Or…

4. I’m sorry, amigos…you can call me to cancel your trip or we’ll get you credit for a future trip if you have deposits with us.

ALASKA AIR

Alaska Air starts flying Oct. 30th and the response has been extremely strong. We’re already taking reservations for November. There’s some good rates, pescadores. Let us know if you’re interestested.

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

“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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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK:

PHOTO 1 – 14 year-old Mike Harkins from Los Angeles has a knack for getting big fish each year he comes to La Paz including this sweet 30 pound class bull that he caught on the La Paz side this past week.

PHOTO 2 – A wild week of parties here, especially for the Jim Booth Group from Riverside. Here Jorge shows off his enhanced uh…chest against the Corona Girls during our big Corona Beach Party at La Concha Beach.

PHOTO 3 – Chris Silva from Riverside says it all. No explanation needed!

THE FISH REPORT

FULL MOON DORADO TEAR IT UP –

So much for that full-moon superstition! The dorado bit like their fins were on fire this week! In fact, it got to be a little too good. Usually sometimes if fishing isn’t so good, guys get frustrated and will cancel some fishing trips and decide to sleep in or lay on the beach. This week on several occasions, the fishing was so turbo, guys came back beat up and tired and canceled trip because they had no more room in their ice chests (even after releasing fish!) or strength in their arms!

The best fishing was on the La Paz side, but the buoys at Las Arenas were also holding fish. It was a case of just being on the right spot! You could go all day and scratch fish then hit the right sargasso patch or the right buoy and watch dorado life explode in your face and go non-stop bendo for the next hour! Just had to be patient. Sometimes the dorado rodeo was early. Sometimes it was late. Sometimes it was just spending that last 10 minutes out there on the water.

Once the fish were going, however…forget it!!! They’d bite a piece of tortilla flipped in the water! Guys were coming back with “tales of tails” literally charging the boat in a race to the baits. There were a lot of punk firecracker fish (many getting released), but there were also larger bulls in the 30-50 pound class as well.

I was on Black Magic one way with the youngsters from the Greg Leon group and the boys put a couple of 35 plus pound fish in the box, but not quite enough to beat the dads fishing the super pangas who got 40 plus pounders. Same for the Jim Booth group earlier in the week who also stuck some nice bulls as well as marlin, cabrilla and pargo. That’s what Steve Vetrone and his partner, Von did. When they got tired of all the dorado, they lit out for the rocks and went after the pargo and cabrilla which still seemed to be holding inshore.

No tuna or roosters or wahoo to speak of and the marlin bite was off, but that could also be a function of all the folks chasing dorado. I did go diving one day this week and the water temps were an incredible 87-92 degrees on the surface. I gotta tell ya that I dove through one rock overhang about 35 feet down and came face-to-face with about 30 nice sized dog tooth snapper that just stared back at me with grins like little kids caught with cookies and milk in the closet! I thought of all the times these danged fish had kicked my butt! These were 5-30 pound snapper and darned lucky they were hanging out in a protected area or else I’d have marked the spot on my GPS and been back in the morning.

We did have some thundershower roll throw that did opened the heavens on us with thunder, lightning and heavy rain. But they were short lived despite being spectacular.

FIESTA TIME

Special shout out to Jim Booth’s group out’ve La Paz. What a fun batch of folks. We hired them a big party tour bus to bring them up from Cabo loaded with drinks, music and video. We threw a big Corona party on the beach complete with the Corona gals and even a big taco cookout at the Sunset Bar where folks were up on the bar dancing and I was asked to preside over a wedding…as the PREACHER!!! Dave Aguilar and Denise Miller actually had flower and exchanged rings amid massive tequila toasting and good wishes as I held a broom over their heads and stood on a bar chair! Oh…and they also caught fish too!

HOTEL LOS ARCOS TO RE-OPEN

After almost two months of closure because of a labor dispute with the union, the two sides finally came to an agreement and the popular hotel will be opening July 17th, although their corporate offices tell me it’s more likely to be July 19th. Glad they’re opening. Lots of people had it rough with no work.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

In case you missed my posting, we were mentioned in a front page story of the business section in the Los Angeles Times on July 11th. In a story by Marty Zimmerman, he gives a good piece about the new airlines that might be flying into Baja next year. Here’s the link: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airmex10jul10,1,4126442.story?coll=la-headlines-business&track=crosspromo

That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter InternationalWebsite: www.tailhunter-international.comPhone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.comU.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
“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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PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Retired dentist, Dr. Dave Perine from Washington state, repeatedly broke off in shallow water off Cerralvo Island on 130 pound leader and 80 pound mainline using big 24″ ladyfish as bait trying to land some of our big dog tooth pargo (cubera snapper). He finally got one in the boat…this 35 pounder with the aid of Capt. Valente, but these are the kind of toads (and larger) still taking anglers to school in the rocks right now.

THE FISH REPORT -DORADO SIZZLE ALONG WITH THE SUMMER – MARLIN STILL ON THE CHEW – TUNA POP AND TEASE AT LAS ARENAS – WAHOO YOOHOO? – AERO CALIFORNIA – PHOTO OF THE WEEK

MAHI RIP IT UP

Weather almost as hot as the fishing this past week with water temps finally hitting the 90’s and air temps tickling triple digits as well but at least it’s not humid like it was last week. Last week, the air was as thick and sticky as gravy!

Right now…for the fishing, if you put in a day or two on the water, it was pretty hard NOT to get bit by dorado. You might have an off day or miss the spot but for the most part, it’s dorado rodeo time with fish seemingly getting bigger and more and more bulls for both my Las Arenas and La Paz fleets.

Wish people would release more fish actually. No reason to be taking as many fish as I’ve seen. One guy (not our clients) was bragging about 100 fish today as I listened in a restaurant. I didn’t have the heart and was too pissed to ask him if he kept them all, but even if he kept 1/3 of them, that’s stupid. Heard someone else talking about 50 yesterday. C’mon…

Quite a few marlin and sails around sometimes literally begging to be fed. Tuna keep popping up at Las Arenas and surprising everyone for a day or two then going to ground then showing up again a day or two later. Nice grade 10-30 pound footballs. Still nice roosters around as well as big dog tooth pargo if you have the patience. Wahoo are in the area, but no one seems to be able to make one stick.

THE ELECTIONS AND AERO CALIFORNIA

Well, as expected, there was movement after last week’s July 2nd Presidential election. However, no one seems to be quite sure who won! Actually, PAN candidate Calderon won by the slimmest of percentage points, but it took like…4 days to figure it all out and opposition party candidate Obrador is screaming fraud as he won by something like 200,000 votes out’ve 40 million ballots! That’s a drop in the bucket. There have already been a few protests, but most are accepting the fact that Calderon is the new head hombre here.

What did that mean for us at ground zero who felt the Aero Cal fiasco was all politically motivated? Well, surprise…Aero Cal got the OK to officially fly and hit the air with 5 planes. The bad news? Aero Cal canceled all flight until at least July 17 with no end in sight…Lovely… That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International Website: www.tailhunter-international.comPhone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.comU.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
“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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Lenny Salazar from Lomita came down with his “Pez Gringo” buddies for the first time to La Paz and hit quite a variety of fish including this nice dorado and football tuna not too far from the Las Arenas beach.

TUNA and MARLIN BREAK IN WITH DORADO – MEXICO ELECTIONS – THIS COULD BE THE WEEK FOR AERO CALIFORNIA –
GREAT MIX OF FISH

Sure feels like August here! It’s hot. It’s sunny and sometimes humid too and the fishing reflects it. Fish we don’t normally see until late in the summer like big blue and black marlin have come to prowl with a number of hookups on surprised anglers who thought they were fishing light tackle for dorado only to find themselves suddenly hooked to 500 pound billfish!
The dorado have been really active for our La Paz fleet with fish scattered from El Bajo to the north end of Cerralvo to the Channel and down to Las Cruces. Sargasso weed lines have been productive and dorado in the 30-50 pound class are not uncommon. For my Las Arenas anglers, they have had more variety with not only dorado; but breezers of tuna off Punta Perrico; sailfish, marlin, roosterfish and even dog tooth (pargo perro) and mullet snapper (pargo lisa) in the rocks. Nice mix of fish!

The tuna are really a bonus. We used to have tuna frequently, but in the past few years, the bite has been pretty anemic as marine biologist tell me the fish haven’t left. They’re just way down deep and have no reason to come up because one of the big sources of food…squid are down there too.

Well, the past few weeks, the sharp rise in water temps has brought a bloom of algae resulting in a phenomenon called “red tide” where the oxygen levels become so depleted by the rise in plant life, it literally chokes off the oxygen to the larger species swimming around. It hasn’t been a problem outside in the blue water, but in the bay…whooo-weeeee…it sure gets stinky as squid, mollusk, inshore fish and other marine life wash up daily emitting a stink as they roast in the Baja sun as folks try frantically to clean it up. This is just a natural thing we get a few times a year so no big deal, but for whatever reason, as the squid have shown up with great frequency, it’s not surprising that the tuna also seem to move into shallower waters.

If you’re coming down and the tuna are still around, you want to be fishing with as light a tackle as possible. I’d suggest 20-25 pound test for these fish and a short leader of flurocarbon wouldn’t hurt either!

MEXICO ELECTIONS

July 2nd is Mexico’s national election day as President Fox only serves one 6-year term as proscribed by Mexican law. At the time of me writing this, the polls were too close to call, but locals in droves were at the polls. Be interesting to see how it comes out and what effect it will have on everything else.

AERO CALIFORNIA

Could this be the week it happens? Aero Cal has promised that right after the elections, tickets would be on sale again and flights would resume. I’m so tempted to point my finger and call…’B.S.” but I gotta try to remain optimistic. That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter InternationalWebsite: www.tailhunter-international.comPhone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.comU.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
“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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