Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 20-27, 2014

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, catch-and-release, Cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, charters, circle hooks, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, dog tooth snapper, dorado, east cape, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito, espirito santo island, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, girls fishing, gray whales, grouper, holidays, Hotel Perla, idaho sportsman show, IGFA, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, mag bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea of cortez, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, spearfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, Tournament fishing, travel, triple tail, tuna, Tuna tournament, Uncategorized, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women fishing, Word Records, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged accommodations, amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, Baja sur, bay, billfish, blog, bonito, cabo san lucas, cantamar hotel, catch-and-release, Cerralvo, certified scale, charter, children, city express hotel, costa baja, day tours, deep sea, discount, dorado, east cape, eco tours, el sargento, espirito santo, executives, family, fish, fishing, fishing report, fishing shows, flyfishing, fred hall, freediving, girls, grey whales, groups, guide, holiday, hotel el moro, hotel marina, hotel perla, hotels, IGFA, images, ISE, isla, island, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, kids, la concha beach resort, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, lodging, los barriles, mahi mahi, marina, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsman show, package, panga, pargo, photos, pompano, Portland Expo, roosterfish, sailfish, san jose del cabo, scuba, sealions. beaches, sierra, snapper, snorkeling, spearfishing, sportfishing, suenos, swimming, tailhunter international, techniques, tips, tour, tours, tuna, vacation, video, wahoo, whale sharks, whale watching, wife, world record, yellowtail on July 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This is the best mustache of the week! Don Slaiman and Captain Pancho from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet bust out the big smiles with two nice bull dorado on the beach.

Chris Chang owns an organic nursery in Canada and had never fished in Mexico before, but fishing with Tailhunters got plenty of dorado and, on his last day, a huge 300 pound blue marlin north of La Paz that he fought on a Penn 6/0 reel with 60 pound test and put in the boat in only about an hour. The gut hooked fish inhaled the green and orange lure all the way down it’s gullet. He was fishing with popular Captain Rogelio “Jolly Roger” Camacho.

There’s a zillion good things going on in this photo of Tyler Emard from Fullerton CA. Fishing with Captain Rogelio from our Taihunter La Paz fleet, Tyler fought this dorado…his first and biggest…for 20 minutes on light tackle…no belt…all arms and shoulders! He’s headed to the University of Arizona in a few weeks! Great colors on this photo!

The skies went from clear to this…as a wave or darkness hits the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. There had been absolutely nothing on the advisories or radar about this. That’s why they are called “toritos.” (little bulls). These storms come out of nowhere with thunder, lightning, wind and rain and it’s almost like a baby hurricane. Ominous. The pangas had to scramble back to the beach for cover.

Seven minutes after the first photo, here’s what the beach looked like at Bahia de Los Muertos…a malestrom! Thirty minutes later, the sun was out…

Las Arenas provided some good action this week for Tailhunter clients including Steve Holguin from Los Angeles and his son, Marcos who is attending college in New York as the pair show off a set of dorado standing on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter fleet.

susie waters dorado vert small tags 7-14

Susie Waters had never fished La Paz or ocean-fished before, but broke into it big time with a couple of days on the water with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This is just a super photo of her hanging the fish all by herself with big smiles.

Long Beach fishing veteran, Zach Linden, raced down for a last-minute trip this week and a couple of days of fishing. The fish gods smiled and Zach did some great action on ultralight tackle including this pair of La Paz dorado.

Rebecca Kendrick got into the thick of the dorado action with this nice bull mahi fishing with Captain Alfredo and deckie Blas. She had always wanted to fish Mexico and salt water and had a great first experience with a number of nice fish over several days of fishing.

It’s got a little sand on the forehead, but a great photo of Peter Knapp and Captain Pancho on the beach at Las Arenas with this nice-sized bull.

Grant Stark and Levi Fadoul put the wood to this thick bull dorado fishing north of La Paz last week. These two guys had too much fun all week. Always seemed to be cracking up!

UNPREDICTABLE EL NINO CONDITIONS AFFECT FISHING BUT DORADO DO THEIR BEST

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2014

With the exception of another of those surprise “torito” (little bull) storms that popped up on Thursday, it was a pretty good week of fishing for the most part.

This time of year, waters are extremely warm…actually, warmer than usual…as a result of the “el nino” situation. This has given rise to rapidly forming storms that are not shown on weather advisories in the morning. However, out of seemingly clear skies, huge thunderheads suddenly build and the skies grow dark within minutes. Winds start whipping and wave emerge from calm seas turning the ocean into churning froth. Wind-driven rain doesn’t fall so much as it shoots sideways from the gusts. It’s time to get the heck off the water!

Several weeks ago, one of these storms turned into a huge waterspout between Cerralvo Island and El Sargento and Las Arenas. We didn’t quite get that this week, but in the span of about 10 minutes clear skies went dark and the oceans got treacherous. The pangas had barely been on the water, but found themselves racing back to the beach made more perilous by waves now pounding the sands where the pangas had to land. Lighting strikes illuminated everyone scrambling around for shelter. Cell phone and electrical power gets cut off.

As the rains hit and everyone hunkers down….that’s pretty much all you can do. There’s a reason they call these “little bulls.” Within an hour or two…sometimes in the span of minutes…it’s over. The sun blazes back out. The winds turn off. The skies go clear and flat. Except for puddles of water, there’s no trace.

And that’s what happened Thursday morning.

But, the rest of the week was pretty grand!

LAS ARENAS

Fishing definitely improved over the week before. Again, dorado were center stage, but there were fewer punk 5 pound dorado and more respectable 10-20 pounders and all willing to charge pretty much water was in the water. Some boats did better than others, but then the next day the boat that did poorly would be the big boy boat. Consistently , ever panga we put on the water caught fish…or had opportunities to catch fish. One of the big problems is that the baits we have tend to be large. Hence, it takes longer than normal for the fish to really chomp the bait and get a hook down in their mouths. Anxious anglers would often tell me they pulled the trigger too soon before the dorado could eat and they would lose the hook-set and half-a-bait would come flying back to the boat…sans dorado!

LA PAZ

Still our most consistent area. Our La Paz boats rocked some really nice 20-40 pound fish this week as they have now since June. The fish extend right from La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island then around the corner to about El Rosario/ Las Cruces where the larger bulls seem to have taken residence not too far from the beach. Co-incidentally, that’s where large schools of baitfish have been seen. We also got some roosterfish off the beaches.

The bigger news is the increased incidence of hookups with billfish including larger-than-normal sailfish and even some blue marlin. I don’t remember seeing so many hookups on blue marlin as I have the past two or three weeks. Most of the sails and marlin are getting released, but one fish that couldn’t be released was a hefty 300-pound blue.

WEATHER

El Nino effects keep coming. Days can start out with bright brilliant sunshine but by afternoon, the clouds roll in and we get tropical storms that can be pretty crazy. It can rain in one place and 100 yards away, it’s bone dry! And the rain can last 5 minutes of an hour. Then the sun comes blazing out. But, there’s some predictions of more afternoon rain this week.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, Uncategorized on August 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We haven't caught wahoo for several weeks, but that was because everyone was focused on the tuna and dorado! Randy Lyons took one day off from fishing the other species to troll around the south end of Cerralvo Island and came up with 3 'hoo! All were taken on dark rapalas. Randy, from Elk Grove CA and his amigo, Dick Winslow, had a stellar week with some of the best catches of the week. See the other photos of them below.

Yes...there are still some nice-sized tuna around playing among the 15 pound footballs. Many anglers are either getting beat up or busting off their fish or simply getting spooled by beasts they never see except for a smoke trail from their reels. This 60-pound class tuna by Cathy Corda didn't get away. She's trying to lift it on the beach at Las Arenas. The big tuna re readily eating chunked squid.

I believe that I will have to revise my predictions about the best time to fish for pargo. In the past few weeks, we've had some of the BEST and LARGEST pargo fishing that I can remember. Captain Pancho really tore it up this week with Dick Winslow who got his first tuna (sea below) as well as his first pargo which included several like this one in the 30-40 pound class. This one is a pargo liso (mullet snapper). The fish were boiling on chummed squid.

James Henning (blue shirt) brought 10 of his Denver amigos and kneels amid some of their catch of tuna and dorado. Over three days the guys limited or near limited on tuna, dorado, pargo, cabrilla and snapper.

There were some really nice fish caught this week and some surprising catches even for old-time returning amigos like Joey Fuschetti from Orange Co. CA who holds up a 50-pound amberjack. Joey has an unusual method of fishing that he swears by. He chops up bits of papaya when he fishes and chums with it first. We all think he's nuts. The captains just shake their heads. However, it's hard to argue with success. Joey always catches fish and often some of the largest fish of the day.

Like I said, above, it's been a crazy season for pargo and some of the biggest have been caught the last few weeks. Here's our good, amigo, Randy Lyons again with a big dog-tooth snapper taken near Cerralvo Island. Randy had several large ones during the week and said there was one that literally dragged him with from one end of the boat to the other with his heels dug into the deck and the drag completely buttoned down on a 2-speed reel and the fish was still moving! It eventually broke off in the rocks on 50 pound test. He said that chunks of squid tossed into the water got the fish boiling to the surface except once when spearfishers dove right into their spot and chased the fish away.

Blue water and fresh tuna for Tom Moon and Tony Toven off Las Arenas beach! The two caught tuna ranging from 10 pounders up to 63 pounds. Both are from the Los Angeles area.

This is what it looks like to have been on a fish for 4 hours...a 250 pound marlin on light tackle for Craig Corda. Check out the story below!

Initially, Dick Winslow didn't have any wire on his Rapala that morning, but Captain Pancho suggested putting some light wire leader on just-in-case. It did the trick. Dick got this wahoo and the sharp teeth of the wahoo shredded the lure plus the plastic sheath protecting the wire leaving the fish barely on by a thread. Straight mono would never have held.

Our La Paz fleet continues to consistently kick out dorado...about 90 percent of the catch for our fleet on the side with fish ranging from 5-20 pounds on the average. We're waiting for the larger bulls to show. Much of the time, the bite seems later in the day so we caution anglers to be patient and give the captain time to get the fish going. Our boats have been staying out extra long...sometimes not coming back until after 4 p.m. to find the fish. Joey and Bob hold up a couple of typical La Paz dorado.

WAHOO TUNA DORADO AND BIG PARGO RIP ANGLERS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

A pretty good week here. What did you want to catch? It seemed like there were opportunities for everything from marlin to roostefish and from pargo to tuna and dorado! Such a great variety.

For our La Paz boats, the dorado bite continued fairly solidly. Perhaps there were too few big fish compared to last week, but limits or near limits were the rule rather than the exception for our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Most of the fish were 5-15 pounds. A larger La Paz dorado might go maybe 20 pounds. But there were also some jags of pargo, cabrilla and sailfish and marlin.

The most variety were for our anglers fishing out of Las Arenas. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had it’s share of dorado up to 30 pounds. However, it was the other species that poked their heads up that continued to keep rods bent and anglers fired up!

For instance, there were good numbers of football tuna running 5-20 pounds, but every day or so, some guys tangled with the big gorillas that either beat the anglers or busted up the gear! No giant giant fish put in the boat, but several 40-70 pound yellowfin tuna were landed. As well, we saw several 20-40 pound yellowtail…that’s right YELLOWTAIL (in August) make it into the fish boxes.

As well, roosterfish and some huge pargo were also landed. Just like the yellowtail, we normally don’t see these big monster pargo this time of year, but it’s a screwy year. We’re seeing some of the best and largest pargo fishing of the year the last few weeks. The funny thing is that like the yellowfin tuna and the yellowtail, we’re catching these guys on big chunks of fresh giant squid! We’ve not had much live bait so we’re catching or buying giant squid in the morning and then chunking for the big fish! And they’re eating it!

Also, for several weeks no one has caught any wahoo. It’s not because they’re not here. It’s because no one has been fishing for them. The tuna bite has been so good that no one wants to veer off and take a shot. Well, several guys went after them and it was like the wahoo were just waiting and feeling ignored. The fish were on the usual spots at the south end of Cerralvo Island and jumped all over the dark Rapalas.

FIRST PERSON STORY

CATCH & RELEASE Marlin by Cathy and Craig Corda…sorry no photos…Cathy almost got pulled overboard!

“Another wild time at Las Arenas beach – while fishing for tuna at the sweet spot in front of the beach houses, south of El Faro ~ my wife Cathy, our guide Aldolfo and myself unexpectedly hooked up to a marlin- WHAM! the battle was on, taking out line very fast, about a 1/2 hr. into it we had the marlin close to the panga. WOW bigger then we expected ~ 250 lb. blue, on a 40 lb. line, with a Penn Senator reel.

As Aldolfo put the gaff into its back it woke up and off it went with Aldolfo hanging on for all he had and the marlin was splashing everything and everyone, Aldolfo’s feet left the pangas deck, I caught his shirt tale and pulled him back in before he went for a swim.

Marlin takes off with our only gaff in its back, for about another 1/2 hr. we kept the marlin on the side of the panga, calling for anyone to come with another gaff. Finally, we got the bait guys to come over, all they had was a harpoon, so they pulled up next to us with the marlin between both pangas and tried to harpoon it a few times but this only pissed the marlin off more, finally it turned and burned, broke the line. I was really relieved to get back to fishing for tuna, dorado and pargo all which were ranging in the 30 to 60 lb. range.
So this was a true “Catch and Release”. Side note ~ Aldolfo’s gaff floated to the surface and he got it back.”

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Here’s some video footage from the week taken on the beach. Click this…some good stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llNsWm7xNLs

SOME WEEKLY FISHING HUMOR

I get sent all kinds of funny stories and video clips. This week, there were two that were excellent and I just wanted to share then with you.

The first is called “Adolph’s Bad Day.” For those of you who own boats, this will be especially good…

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81057766/

This one is all about fish leaping in the boat! The cameraman laughing is the best part!

http://www.purplepug.com/Videos/Asian-Carp-Wabash-River-August/13187983_T9fdj#957217611_fEWWb

Have a great week. That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 12-19, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, mexico fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, Uncategorized, tagged jonathan roldan, la paz, la paz baja mexico, La Paz fishing, light tackle fishing, panga fishing, sea of cortez, tailhunter international on June 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Family Outing with three generations of the Whittlesey guys including grandpa Norman (tuna and pargo); grandson Mike (striped marlin); Dad Craig (wahoo) and grandson Dan with another wahoo. The guys from Pullman Washington spent the past week fishing with us and had this great day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The bite reflected the improved fishing towards the end of the week.

Ed Johnson from S.California got into the nice jag of Cerralvo Island on the south side that went off this past week. It was his first trip and his panga got 3 wahoo and lost another. They also got dorado. The wahoo were eating trolled deep running dark colored lures early in the morning.

Making his first trip to La Paz from Colorado, Jim Schmid had an eventful week with all the different species he encountered (see account below) including this La Paz dorado as more dorado moved into the area with some larger fish like Jim's.

Leif Dover from Atlanta GA spent a week with us targeting "only big fish" and spending the time to only use larger baits and fishing larger tackle. It paid off with this beast dog-tooth cubera snapper with Captain Adolfo looking on.

Big roosterfish are still around in what has turned out to be an excellent roosterfish season. Check out Scott Damron's big fish he caught and released south of Muertos Bay.

Not a bad day at all. Early the week, the dorado bite was tough as winds pushed things around, but Cindi and Jim Schmid from Colorado still managed 4 nice mahi. As the week went on, winds diminished and dorado got more cooperative.

It's not big...but it's big news and a great catch, especially for a first timer like Mike Whittlesey from Washington who got this tuna near Cerralvo Island trolling for wahoo. Tuna keep popping up, but not staying so we have to keep an eye on this!

Captured in mid-flight during the battle, Jim Schmid's sailfish goes vertical. The fish broke off at the boat after a long fight and was "the fish of a lifetime" according to Jim. They were fishing north of La Paz with Captain Raul and our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.

SLOW START OF THE WEEK ENDS IN HIGHER NOTES BY THE END!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 12-19, 2010

The week started slow and scratchy with some really tough fishing. Winds again kept blowing erratically not only turning waters off-color, but also scattering bait and generally putting lock-jaw on the fishing. There were times early-on when even the bonito seemed dis-interested in biting and basically, we all struggled with both our Las Arenas and our La Paz fleet. How bad? Well, imagine getting excited about BIG triggerfish! Well…not quite that bad, but we sure had to work hard for the roosters, pargo, cabrilla and inshore fish that we got.

Then, just about to throw up my hands and kick sand and boom! The winds stopped for a few days…

And the fish bit!

We suddenly found dorado, wahoo, some marlin and sailfish…even some tuna bit! What a difference a day or two makes! Roosterfish kept coming on. Dorado up to 30 pounds. Every day there were a few billfish hooked (lost or released). For a few days, it seemed every boat fishing south of Cerralvo Island hooked a wahoo…not necessarily put it in the boat, but they were getting bit and several boats each day did put a wahoo in the pangas.

As of the time I’m writing this, winds have stayed relatively calm and the waters are getting clearer. Our biggest challenge is the live bait now. The winds have beat up the bait so badly over the last few months and thrashing all the usual bait spots that the bait is scattered and takes a long time to get.

For our La Paz fleet, they’re doing OK, but it’s taking almost 2-3 hours to find enough bait or waiting for the bait guys to catch enough to sell. Once they get the bait, it’s fine. For our Las Arenas fleet, as has been the case for about 3 months, the bait is all the way up the east side of Cerralvo Island. Rather than spend the time going all the way up then coming all the way back, our captains are using the time to troll around the south end of the island for wahoo and waiting for the bait guys to come back from getting bait and then buying it.

Alot of the anglers can’t understand why it takes so long or why we don’t do something else. You gotta understand, it’s pretty hard to fish without bait unless you want to troll around all day. It’s not like we can wave a magic wand and make bait suddenly appear or get easier to catch. The weird weather patterns have just made this a tougher season so far to get bait. Once you get the bait, there’s fish to be caught. It’s just trying everyone’s patience a bit more than normal.

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT

Thank you to Jim Schmid for this!

“While the fishing was a little tougher than we hoped for, in 4 days we managed to catch 9 different species, 61 fish total, brought home a cooler full of filets, and still had extra fish to give away to Captain Raul and some of the hotel staff. I really wanted at least one BIG TROPHY FISH, and my wish was fulfilled on the last hour of the last day, when we hooked a very large sailfish. I spotted the fish behind our boat, and Capt. Raul made two quick hand thrown casts to place the sardine in the path of the fish, which cooperated by eating it. Cindy graciously offered me the opportunity to fight the fish (hooked on her rod), and 40 minutes later, we brought it to boatside. Unfortunately, when Raul grabbed the 30 # line and tried to get ahold of the fish’s bill, it thrashed and the line snapped. We were going to release it, anyway, but it would have been nice to get some better photos (Cindy got a good one of it jumping, attached here) Oh well, we will always have the memory of that huge fish jumping out of the water, over and over…a total of TEN TIMES! Raul said it was a “Very big one” and estimated the weight at 70kg.!

I never imagined the remotest chance of catching a big sailfish. I know very little about sailfish, but am guessing a person could make many trips out trying to catch one of this caliber. I certainly feel I was very fortunate to have the chance to fight a fish like this and very lucky to get the fish in, on fairly light gear. It will very likely be my “fish of a lifetime”. “

By the way, wherever you’re celebrating it, Happy Father’s Day everyone! God bless all the dads out there.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 9-16, 2010

Orange Co, CA resident Jeff Marston actually had two on the boat when he and his wife, Jodie, got ripped almost simultaneously by tuna that suddenly popped up outside of Cerralvo Island with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Jodie couldn't lift her 50 pound-class tuna and Jeff couldn't lift BOTH fish for this photo. Both did their fish on light tackle and 30 pound test and live bait!

The capricious wahoo gods surely smiled on John "JD" Drucker from Redondo Beach CA. In two days of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, John got 2 wahoo the first day and had 1 or 2 others bite off. The next day, he got this big fat skinny 'hoo and had another one short bite! He was using a dark magnum rapala slow trolled at the south end of Cerralvo Island with Captain Victor

: It was a great week for roosterfish! There’s a reason they call this the “roosterfish capital of the world.” Steve Greanias and his brother George show off 2 of the 7 they hooked and released just south of Bahia de Los Muertos with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. They are just in front of Boca de Alamo. The fish this week went 10-50 pounds!

Dorado fishing slowed a tad this past week with winds moving the fish around, but Dee Dee Pope from Livermore CA holds up one with Captain Jorge just off Punta Perrico

George Greanias, on a short leave as a Captain in the Army, came down to get some lines wet and pulled out one of the elusive dog-tooth snapper that beat us up so often! This is just outside of Muertos Bay and George was fishing live sardines.

The wahoo made a brief appearance this week again dodging our best efforts. You have to be willing to commit the time and know that if you get a goose-egg, you probably are too late to do much other fishing. Our buen amigo Jorge Romero didn't even start fishing until 9 a.m. and had two of these scooter wahoo by noon and quit when the winds came up. He was trolling an orange/black Yo-Zuri you can see in the photo.

This has been an unusual year for exceptionally large cabrilla (Mexican seabass). This is Nic Bomicino of Woodland Hills with a 15 lb Cabrilla pulled from 8 ft of water on 60lb full drag on a slow trolled Cabillito. Had another bigger one bust off right after this one.

Another fat cabrilla in the panga for Jamie Smith of Malibu who fished north of La Paz with us.

Normally, Travis Barker is a canine police officer in the San Francisco Bay Area, but took the week to make his first trip to La Paz and got his first dorado which happened to be a nice female.

Like I said, roosterfishing the last week or so has really ramped up into prime time! Check out this beautiful pez gallo taken by our amigo Larry Parnell from Oregon with the help of Captain Pancho. The fish was taken just south of Bahia de Los Muertos and was released. They released several others that day as well.

Nice pair! Our amigo Gary Evans from Orange Co. CA went straight to the heavy artillery using 80 pound test and slow trolling a big ladyfish in the shallows to nail these two big dog tooth snapper (pargo perros). Even with the big guns, others were lost that couldn't be stopped.

This school-sized rooster has been alot of fun all week for guys with light tackle. This one by Richard Pope was actually caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of town. It could not be released.

This lady is way too fun...Lucy Shimenesky from Oregon hangs with the guys and has a great time. She's holding a nice schoolie-sized dorado. If you wanted to really focus on the dorado, the schools north of La Paz were pretty hungry all week except the days when the winds blew.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP:

Check out the tuna and wahoo! Althoug the voice-over says 45 pounds we learned the scale was about 7 pounds off. Click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2PtCHlPHA

FULL RANGE OF FISH KEEP ANGLERS BUSY…MOST OF THE TIME!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 9-16, 2010

It was another of those weeks when we ran the full spectrum from one end of the week to the other going from “so-so fishing” to” pretty-darn-good fishing” by the end of the week and some “Not-too-bad-fishing” thrown in the middle!

There’s just so much variation in the weather; water conditions; wind; and consequently the bite reflects that as well. One day up. One day down. One day the fish are close. One day way outside. The bait is easy one day and hard the next. One day it’s crazy wahoo. The next day nothing but needlefish. One day everyone catches dorado and the next day it’s nothing but bonito! So crazy. In the middle of all that, some hit the jackpot and nail big time tuna or their first wahoo or even 3 wahoo in a row or huge roosterfish while other boats are out there scratching!

All I can say is…come fish! It is what it is! If you put in time on the water and at least kick in more than a single day of fishing, you’ll get fish. If you fish only one day, that might be the one day of the week when the fishing just isn’t happening! But it’s rarely bad for TWO days! I just wish when people ask me what’s biting, I can tell them something more definitive than just shrugging my shoulders with a dumb-ss look and tell them, “I don’t know, but we’re catching fish!”

This kind of fishing really isn’t that unusual for this time of year. The seasons are in transition as are the waters. It’s not really winter. It’s not really spring. It’s not quite summer. There’s cool water. There’s warm water. There’s cold water fish still around and there’s warm water fish around too.

Nothing in abundance, but at the end of the day, there’s so much variety in the boxes. Just today, I counted 17 different varieties of fish taken or caught and released! Check it out…tuna (up to 50 pounds) , wahoo (up to 60 pounds) , dorado, 3 types of pargo, 3 species of bonito, cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle, marlin, sailfish, pompano, roosterfish, rainbow runner (not to mention the junk fish like triggers, skipjack, trumpets, needlefish that were tossed away) plus several speciesl lost…amberjack, and dog tooth snapper to name a few! That’s JUST ONE DAY’s CATCH!

I guess the best thing to do is let the photos above do the talking! Check out the photos and the variety!

That’s our story!

Have an excellent week!

Jonathan and Jill

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

May 9, 2010

: Late in the week, bruiser-sized 40-60 pound tuna showed up literally yards off Punta Perrico point. Dee Dee Pope, on her first trip to La Paz and first day fishing fought this big guy over an hour on light 30 pound test and a mini-Whopper Stopper rod. “The first run blazed 300 yards of line off the reel right down to the spool!” she said. Her husband, Rick, had another fish for 15 minutes before busting off. A number of fish were lost by anglers. Others INTENTIONALLY broke off their fish after long battles and realizing they they were way over-matched out out-gunned!

Travis Barker (right) is a canine police officer in the San Francisco Bay area and with his amigo, Rich Pope, they got into a nice snap of good dorado with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. This was their first fishing trip to La Paz

Our Cabin Fever Classic produced a variety of fish including this nice cabrilla that Becky Solee got just off the rocks with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet

Stacy Amos from Los Angeles always does well and has a knack for pulling nice fish off the reefs like this nice barred pargo

Good to have our buddy, Jon Luker from Arroyo Grande CA back with us for the Cabin Fever Classic. He nailed this excellent dog-tooth snapper (Pargo Colorado) fishing with Captain Archangel on the first day.

Two of our favorite amigos, Tim and Angela "TPG" Farrell from Oceanside CA always lead the charge and laughs for our Cabin Fever Classic. Tim holds a snapper. Angela got this dorado and some big roosters they released.

Beth Sarachman Watts has been down several times but this time brought her new husband Dan Watts with her for hist first time and had a blast into a mutiple hook-up dorado bite fishing out of Muertos Bay with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet

Not much prettier than a fully lit dorado in our blue waters on the bite! Becky Solee took this great photo.

There were so many varieties of fish this week. Grant Darby is enjoying his recent retirement from Washington and got into some nice fish including this nice barred pargo.

This has certainly been a year for larger cabrilla (Mexican seabass) as shown by the one held up here at Muertos Bay Beach by Stan Nelson of Arroyo Grande CA

John Neitzel from Oregon wanted badly to catch his first dorado which isn't very likely in May, but the dorado just happened to show up!

As waters have warmed tremendously in the last week, we might be at the end of seeing any more sierra, but we got some monster sierra like the one held by Oregon amigo Scott Shimenesky. He also got a 35 and 50 pound class rooster this day which were released.

Steve Marabella is a twice-a-year regular amigo with us and had just lost a huge cabrilla to a sealion that left him only a head, but shortly after took this big pargo mulatto to save the day.Bob Solee from Oregon always does well taking dorado this early in the season with Captain Adolfo "Yofo" looking over his shoulder. Great colors on this fish.

: Another of our great amigos from Oregon this week at the Cabin Fever Classic, Pearl Ireton was on her first trip to try out La Paz and has fun with this big snapper

: Craig Braswell is just weeks from retiring from the Sacramento Fire Department, but is already playing hookey from work and enjoying himself with fishing trips! Here he shows off a fat pargo mulatto he took north of La Paz

SLOW START TO WEEK KICKS IN LATE WHEN DORADO & TUNA SHOW UP!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 2-9, 2010

The week ran the gamut. Early we had really terrible winds carry over from the week before where it was just impossible to go out without getting wet and beat up. Even when we could go out, the bait was difficult to catch and you’d better have your jacket handy because it was COLD! Just freaky weather…like the type alot of the country has been having!

However, as the week went on, the conditions went 180. It was like a Baja postcard. Air temps a sunny 88 degrees. Blue water. Just a breeze! The only problem…the fish hadn’t fully recovered and although the waters were clear, the fish just weren’t very cooperative and anglers really had to work for their fish with a picky bite at best. That being said, there was still alot of variety in the water with the fish that were caught.

Some big roosters helped temper things with anglers fishing our Las Arenas fleet. There were some big schools of 5-10 pound fish that were just a blast, but some larger fish in the 30-50 pound class were also caught and released. The bigger fish were eating both the sardines and the larger sabalo as baits. As well, some nice pargo, cabrilla and a good number of sierra at least kept rods bent during the iffy bite and bonito, while not great eating were huge and could be counted on for some great sport…although that only lasts so long! Some other varieties we got were pompano, jack crevalle, amberjack and several marlin were hooked and lost.

The best news took place late in the week. With winds and conditions improving steadily, schools of 5-25 pound dorado moved in and provided an excellent rip on anglers with limits or near limits for both our Las Arenas and our La Paz Tailhunter fleets. The fish would readily eat slow trolled baits, feathers and jigs. No wahoo or yellowtail to speak of at all this past week so maybe we’re past yellowtail season now as waters appear to have warmed. However, just at the end of the week some larger sized tuna cruised in. We have been seeing these fish for awhile, but they were always outside and moving way too fast with the dolphin schools to get into them. Still, several 40-60 pounders were taken including one in the 50 pound class by Dee Dee Pope from San Francisco afrea fisihng with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet just 30 yards from shore on live bait. She fought it for over an hour on light tackle.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS

VIDEO 1: Click this for some highlights from the beach and shots of this week’s fish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eguR8BryxM

VIDEO 2: Our Tailhunter Restaurant and Bar had it’s Cabin Fever Classic Taco Fiesta and the first of it’s live Blues Band nights! A great time as Bluz Explozion kicked out the jams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-yJi0uanw&feature=channel

That’s our story! Have a great week and God Bless for a Happy Mother’s Day!

Jonathan and Jill

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

PHOTO 1: A new Tailhunter Poster Child!!!The angle of the photo might make this look a little bigger than it really is, but this is still a BIG fish!!! Make no mistake, this is a beast. It’s trophy! He surely knows how to pose in front of a camera. Actor and outdoor hunting TV show host, Rick Kasper, had a number of banner days fishing with us this week and got into some of the big yellowtail we found north of La Paz. Forty-pound fish were not uncommon and captains told me of larger fish that were lost to the rocks. “We lost several in the 50 pound class right next to the boat!,” said Rick.

PHOTO 2: Jeff Sakuda from Monterey Park CA has had some incredible trips with us over the years coming down twice a year or more. Fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, Jeff put some meat in the cooler with this heavy fat yellowtail, he caught on a big bait…the secret to the larger fish…larger mackerel or caballitos for bait.

PHOTO 3: BUCKET LIST PHOTO! Before they went fishing that morning, John Carser, Tom Hinmon and Mark Rodman told me that they had been trying to catch a wahoo for year and that they wanted to try for wahoo that day. I told ’em that there’s wahoo, but it’s hit-or-miss and that they would have to commit the time and might not get any fish at all and then it would be too late to get anything else. But they said that wahoo was on their “BUCKET LIST.” OK…go for it. Well…what’dya know…they come back with THREE wahoo! One each. That’s incredible. That’s like telling someone you’re going to a ball game and saying you’re gonna hit a homerun! Then do it…

PHOTO 4: Rick Kasper and Dr. Doug Finn, visiting from New York on his first Mexico trip and first day ever on salt water scored 9 yellowtail, 10 doradol (most released), sierra and cabrilla.

PHOTO 5: Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet holds up one of the wahoo caught this week off the S. end of Cerralvo Island (when the wind wasn’t blowing!). The fish was caught by Harry Hsu, recently retired and on his first trip to La Paz. Note the big purple/black rapala dangling from the mouth

PHOTO 6: Dr. Doug Finn from the Bronx, NY, said it was “the best fishing of my life…like the stuff you only see on TV shows!” He was bruised and battered after a few days of fishing and trying to stop big yellowtail like this one.

PHOTO 7: Our amigo from Portland, Brent Layng, is an ultra-triathalete, but had his hands full with yellowtail and big cabrilla (seabass) like this one the past week. The big pargo took a blue and white lure fished on a fast retrieve in about 60 feet of water west of Ballena Island north of La Paz.

PHOTO 8: Did I mention that we’re catching more dorado these days?

PHOTO 9 : Todd Wheat from N. Cal specifically came down this past week to cross rods and wits with our tricky pargo and got a personal best with this big pargo liso (mullet snapper). Todd was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and got in a few days before the winds ripped things up. The big pargo are right there in the rocks. It’s our largest of the season…so far!

PHOTO 10: Harry Hsu on his first trip with us got a wahoo as well as this nice female dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. More dorado are moving into the area and Harry took this on a live sardine.

PHOTO 11: Bryan Layng came down from San Francisco to check our our spring-fishing and right off the bat, tied into this horse of a yellowtail that swallowed a nice caballito fished off the bottom. These heavy fish were off Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 12: Popular Captain Jorge always seems to do well, especially when fishing with Jeff Sakuda who got into yellowtail, sierra, cabrilla and a prized-wahoo off S. Cerralvo Island after fishing several days with us.

PHOTO 13: Not a bad lineup for Todd Wheat and Greg Gregory fished 3 days with us but scored with pargo liso, big sierra, pargo mulatto, cabrilla and a rainbow runner.

PHOTO 14: They might not be big fish but they were fun fish, especially if you’d not ever done much fishing at all and our bonito schools were voracious this week and lots of fun on light tackle! Our family had a great time when they visited. Left to right, my daughter and son, Jessie and Jarrett Pfost, nephew-in-law Brian Palacios with the dorado; niece Summer Stevens and son-in-law Brian Reid who got several firsts on this trip. We were fishing with our amigo, Captain Lenny Bishop on his boat, “Pampered Lady.” He does a great job working the islands for fishing, snorkel and tour trips.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS

CLIP 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCA7FQWdVms

A quick round up of some of the week’s action with both our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

CLIP 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eidoVFiyZE&feature=related

You have have seen him on espisodes of CSI, Cold Case, Vigilante, and Law and Order as well as many others. He also has his own TV show which he hosts for hunters. Actor Rick Kasper stopped by to fish for a few days with us along with Dr. Doug Finn from New York.

A MIXED FISH BOX OF GREAT FISH MARRED BY ROUGH WINDS LATE IN WEEK!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 18-25, 2010

It hasn’t been a great week of fishing but it hasn’t been a bad week either! Many of our anglers who fished with us this past week might tell you they personally had an exceptional time fishing. It all depended upon where you fished and what you fished for!

There are no so many different species lighting up the water here abouts and around La Paz that it’s hard to finger any of them or say any one of them is going off the charts. That old saying about “on any given day…” Well, this past week about anything could happen!

For instance, off the north and west side of Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz, we had the best example of our crazy fishing. In about 60 feet of water, huge 30-40 pound homeguard yellowtail went off for the better part of the week with boats taking 1-8 fish each. The best baits were the big mackerel and caballito and tying them to a dropper loop or sliding egg sinker with 60-80 pound leader a few feet from the bottom with a stout rod; a reel with good drags and loaded with about 50-60 pound test. These were big thick fish and many were being broken off. Yo-yo iron on a fast retrieve in green/yellow and blue/white were also very effective.

The funny thing is that these are cold-water fish generally. Strangely, in the same area, schools of 5-15 pound dorado would suddenly move in and boats would take a limit or two of dorado in the same spots on iron, live sardines or slow trolled feathers.

In fact, if you looked anywhere in La Paz Bay and north towards the island you’d see low flying and dipping birds…a sure indication that there were dorado working the spots. Again, in the same spots as the dorado and yellowtail, big pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra (more cold water fish) and barracuda and bonito (more warm water fish) could be caught! Go figure! What it did was make for some fun fishing for lots of variety. The key to getting the big yellowtail was getting the larger live baits like mackerel or caballito.

In contrast, for our Las Arenas fleet, the bait situation for sardines continued to be a long run to the islands. Fortunately, enterprising commercial pangeros are running up there then coming back with bait to sell to the fishermen. The coolest thing was that at the south end of Cerralvo, we hit the wahoo every day! Not every boat, but at least one of our boats a day took 1`-3 wahoo that ran 20-60 pounds! Like the dorado, these fish are a bit early in the season but when they hit are eating the dark colored large Rapalas.

(We did have one day, THURSDAY, the winds were so strong, we were not able to fish. It was nuts! Like a baby hurricane with the sun out. We sent everyone home back to bed!)

Inshore, look for roosters, jack crevalle, big-eye jacks, cabrilla and big time pargo that are more frustrating than anything else. As well, marlin and sailfish are here ,but still not quite ready to openly feed, but every other day or so someone hooked on that quickly broke off. Most times, they sit there and just sun themselves until you almost run over them with a panga!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on April 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: A darned nice day for Don and Mary Busse of Lakewood CA. Fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, the couple got 9 sierra, a pargo, a 25 pound roosterfish (see below released); this nice wahoo and lost a bigger one! It was Don’s first wahoo and rooster. Maybe a little early for wahoo, but the fish kept popping up south of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 2: What? Dorado in April? Can it be? For the last month, bits of sargasso weed have been gathering around in the currents which usually means dorado are coming and little dink dorado have been biting here and there. However, they turned on nicely at the end of the week north of town as shown by these two nice grade mahi held by Phil Bonnet and Chuck Lascheid from Sacramento CA with Espiritu Santo Island in the background. Check out how close to shore they are! They got a limit of the nicer fish!

PHOTO 3: Good as it gets. Blue water, white sand and a bull dorado held by Phil Bonnet…our largest so far of the season as dorado turned on north of La Paz!

PHOTO 4: The kids did alright! Yellowtail and pargo mixed it up big time around the El Bajo Seamount now that winds backed off a bit. My son, Jarrett Pfost and nephew Mike Stevens got multiple bites that were lost to the rocks but still took these 3 yellowtail and hefty pargo on live mackerel and y0-yo iron (blue and white!).

PHOTO 5: Cole Chavirra for years has been a regular poster-child for Tailhunter International. He’s one of the most talented anglers I’ve ever seen at the old-age of 12! He’s been down here numerous times since he was about as tall as a tackle box. Check out this trophy barred pargo!

PHOTO 6: “Ma” Janille Todd (mi suegra!) from Spring Valley CA and Jennifer Enright from La Mesa CA proudly hold up a couple of their sierra while standing in front of their catch of sierra and jack crevalle (Captain Victor wanted them for his dogs!) while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This was Jen’s first time to La Paz and first time fishing. My Ma has been here several times and always does well!

PHOTO 7: 12-year-old Cole Yates from Carlsbad CA on his first trip to La Paz did some damage including this over-sized sierra while on a panga.

PHOTO 8: I don’t know who taught these two how to pose, but Mitch Chavira and son Cole show off two of the nicer fish we’ve seen…a big yellowtail and big cabrilla. Mitch said he lost one fish estimated at 50-pounds. I rarely ever doubt either of these two when they go fishing!

PHOTO 9: Family portrait with two of the many pargo hooked this week. My son and daughter, Jarrett (Alpine CA) and Jessie Pfost (Las Vegas NV) strike poses with my niece and nephew Summer and Michael Stevens from Alpine CA. This is Muertos Bay. The pargo are there to be hooked, but so few get taken to the boats! Tough tough fish!

PHOTO 10: Captain Armando helps out with the fish…sierra and big eye jacks (good eats!) for Margo Donohue (Carmel CA) and MaryAnn Hendren (San Diego CA) who had a great day with lots of variety.

PHOTO 11: We had a bunch of happy first-timers this week who had a blast! Kim and Bob Perry from San Diego thought “it was a blast” despite rather rough seas and (to us) slow fishing that day but they had a day full of action on sierra, bonito and two nice pargo. They are already planning to come back before the year is out.

PHOTO 12: Don Busse had caught a wahoo and lost a wahoo this day. Both were firsts ,but claimed that this roosterfish (also his first) was even MORE fun since he hooked it on a light baitcaster outfit. “It took 25 minutes!” he said. “I”m coming back soon just for roosterfish!” was his comment. We’re seeing larger roosters moving into the beaches!

PHOTO 13 : Every day should be so good. My lovely wife and partner, Jilly, celebrated her birthday this week with a day in the pangas; some fish and of course…a bottle of chilled champagne! Cerralvo Island in the background…sierra in the right hand…champagne in the left!

PHOTO 14: Our new favorite fishing fan! This is 13-year-old Kaileigh Otsuka from San Jose CA. Fishing with Captain Chito and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, Kaileigh hooked, fought and boated this fat striped marlin all by herself. The fish was not able to be released but was Kaileigh’s first marlin.

PHOTO 15: Yea…sometimes even the old guy catches a fish! It was a bad-hat day, but the fish were kind to me and I hooked this yellowtail on a caballito about 60 feet down on the Marisla Seamount. I gave the fillets away, but Jill and I kept the collars to barbecue with teriyaki sauce! It’s one of the best parts of the fish that everyone throws away! Nomm…Nomm…Nommm!!!

STRANGE WEEK OF GOOD AND BAD FISHING STILL PRODUCES SOME INCREDIBLE VARIETY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 11-18, 2010

We had much better fishing conditions this week, but it’s taking awhile for things to recover as water was still a bit bumpy and off-color. But…wow…fishing ran the gamut from really poor to really spectacular. I”m just glad we have two fleets here with Tailhunter. It was like night and day.

For our Las Arenas fleet, it was tough fishing. The biggest problem is that the bait is way up the east side of Cerralvo Island. It’s a long run. There was a spot of tuna that showed up, but for the most part it was a frustrating week trying to tackle the tough pargo along the island and around Punta Perrico. Some boats did better than others.

Sometimes, you look at the numbers and it looked like there were no fish and sometimes that was the case, but they talking to our anglers, these tough fish were busting off so often that they hooked many but lost almost all of them. However, there were some nice roosters and plenty of sierra to even things out, but overall, it was tough fishing. The highlights were the fact that flyfishers and light tackle fishers got into schools of fiesty bonito and we did get a few wahoo at the south side of the island as well.

It was a complete opposite for our La Paz fleet. Normally, during this time, the winds are blowing fierce and it’s awfully tough fishing straight north of La Paz. However, not only did the winds lay down, but we got the big mackerel baits that are like candy to some of the bigger game fish.

Boats were getting into a nice grade of yellowtail up to about 30 pounds…using heavy gear and sliding sinkers…the fish are hunkered on the high spots and we’re losing about half of them. However, in those same areas, big pargo and trophy sized cabrilla were also caught on the big mackerel, sardines and also heavy lures.

The real surprise was that over the past few days, I’ve seen more and more sargasso weed showing up…which is usually a good sign of dorado and we’ve seen quite a few small ones cruising and often biting in La Paz Bay…but the latter part of the week…the dorado went on a tear with fish 10-30 pounds! It was like summertime. Whether this stays or not, we’ll see, but this sure is exciting!

NEED YOUR DAILY FISHING FIX?

OK…I draw the line at Twitter. I do NOT “tweet.”

However, if you’re a fan of FACEBOOK, you can check out my facebook page JONATHAN ROLDAN and throughout the week I post snippets of how the fishing is going day-to-day often with photos. If you really need to know how things are going and can’t wait for the weekend report, check out the FACEBOOK page.

I get hundreds of e-mails a day and can’t answer every FACEBOOK comment, but at least you can check things out that may not necessarily get into the weekend fishing report!

You can also become a FAN of TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL, our bar and restaurant and check out what’s happening at the bar and see who’s dancing on the dance pole or had a few too many margaritas!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on April 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: It wasn’t a great week of fishing but there was some great fish to be caught here and there like this most excellent yellowtail held up by Jarrett Pfost on one those rare occasions when the El Bajo Seamount north of La Paz actually kicked out some fish! The yellowtail ate a big mackeral about 100 feet down. Jarrett is from Alpine CA.

PHOTO 2: One stop shopping to fill the cooler. On their first of 4 days fishing, Mike Stevens and Jarrett Pfost from Alpine CA had a stellar day working the El Bajo Seamount on one of the few days this week when the waters flattened out. They took 4 nice yellowtail; 8 pargo; a big cabrilla and numerous other fish that they released while fishing with mackerel, sardines and dropping heavy yo-yo iron (“until our arms ached!”) down to the top of the mount. They say they lost almost as many fish as they took as there were fish “we just couldn’t stop before they rocked us!” It helps that both guys have tons of experience and are also both deckhands on the San Diego sportboats, “Daily Double” and the “Mission Belle.” (Oh…and Mike is my nephew and Jarrett is my son…wish I could say I taught ’em everything they know…but I can’t!)

PHOTO 3: One of the best fishermen and certainly one of the most photogenic amigos we have, Mitch Chavira from San Diego got in a few good days of fishing and always hits trophies like this fat yellowtail, but said he had 50 pounders on that were unstoppable. Still…even he will tell you that fishing conditions were rough and the fish were picky.

PHOTO 4 – Whooo-hoooooo!!! Kyle Yates on his first La Paz trip from Carlsbad CA shows up a good sized cabrila he picked up fishing with that iron in his right hand. Either he’s excited or he got a hook in his finger while taking the photo.

PHOTO 5: FAT FAT barred pargo (Pargo Mulatto) across the beach in a great photo with Kyle and Cole Yates from Carlsbad CA and Cole Chavirra and his dad, Mitch. The fish are great eating and I can’t remember ever seeing so many barred pargo at one time on an excellent catch of that size.

PHOTO 6: Yes…we still have sierra around here. I’ve watched Emily grow up over the years on each of her visits here to La Paz since she was about 5 years old and now she outfishes everyone. Besides the sierra held up by Captain Victor next to Cerralvo Island, Emily also got 7 others and two roosterfish. No one else caught any on her boat except pelicans and seagulls.

PHOTO 7: Mike Stevens of Alpine CA hooked his first pargo on his last trip here a year ago and got “pargo fever” and this week took several others like this big yellow, but will tell you about all the ones he missed; broke off or he simply could not stop! That’s the nature of these incredible fish which are often some of the most frustrating. Mike got this one on a sardine and a sliding sinker rig.

PHOTO 8: Sometimes they even let ME fish! Actually, I was on the water several times this week and I wish I could tell ya that I outfished everyone, but I didn’t. Still…at least I was respectable. I got this hefty cabrilla (Mexican seabass) in about 80 feet of water jigging a blue/white Tady lure on a fast retrieve when the fish came up from the bottom and inhaled it about half way up the water column!

PHOTO 9: Just to show you some of the wacky variety out right now, Mitch Chavirra holds up an African pompano taken while jig fishing off Espiritu Santo Island. Good stuff for the table. Incredible fried up!

VIDEO 1: There’s some shaky footage at the end as I had trouble with the camera, but you get the idea of some of the great yellowtail action on El Bajo during a double hookup!

FISHING NOT SO GREAT AS STRONG WINDS RIP THE AREA, BUT SOME GREAT FISH STILL CAUGHT JUST NOT MANY OF THEM!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of April 4-11, 2010

Although all the great photos might fool you…

It wasn’t really a great week of fishing down here. Some folks got some nice fish, but it started out OK, but then the weather conditions really deteriorated as winds got stronger and stronger and by mid-week the waters around here looked like an episode of “Victory at Sea.”

It was sunny and warm and a great time to be in La Paz, but not such a great time to be on the water as unusually strong winds up to 25 knots at times gusted and not only made it uncomfortable…it made getting bait really difficult to get most times…especially the sardines which are up tight against the rocks or inshore and depends on captains being able to throw their nets.

So, it was scratch fishing for the most part. Even if you got the bait, it was so bumpy that it was almost ridiculous. We still got some fish, but you either really needed to have your “A Game,” be really lucky, or have some skill and experience because the better fish that hit were mean, big and if you didn’t have one of those three things going for you, then even chances are you had a good chance of not doing very well.

That being said, we did hook a few marlin, a few yellowtail, some wahoo, a few tuna and dorado (lots of dinks around that are about 5 pounds), some roosterfish, sierra, cabrilla, pargo and amberjack. Many of these were incredibly nice fish, but I would be pulling your leader if I told you it was stellar fishing…it wasn’t even close.

Some boats did well, but most really didn’t. It was one of those rare weeks when I felt really badly for many of our fishermen because they got beat up AND didn’t catch alot of fish. As the week came to a close, however, things got better.

Winds calmed tremendously and the fish were more ready to go on the chew.

For sure…big schools of bonito started crashing. Even some squid showed up and smart anglers would catch a fish…find squid in the mouths of the bonito and rockfish and pin one of the dead squid to a hook and send it back down to an almost instant bite. Interestingly, there’s ALOT of dorado around…but many of them are really small, but still fun. Good to see most are getting released. Great on light tackle if nothing else. We spent the good part of one day fishing them with fairly ultralight salt water gear and having a great time.

Personally, I spent several days on the water this week and it really helped to have some experience to get the larger fish or you’d lose way more than you landed. But, if you wanted to just have a good time and didn’t care too much for quality eating fish or big fish, there were fish to be taken.

I would suggest several things if you come down that are hard to get down here.

1. Flurocarbon leader made a difference…20, 30 and 40 pound test. Get 80 pound if you’re going to chase the big yellowtail or pargo.

2. I’m normally not a big proponent of sinkers since we rarely use them but some of these fish were relatively deep and it helped to put some weight on to get the baits below the bonito and needlefish FAST. I would suggest torpedo, rubbercore or sliding egg sinkers of 2-4 oz size.

3. If you know how to use them and have a high speed reel, then yo-yo/ candybar type lures of the type made by Tady, Salas, Sumo, Fire, etc. in blue/ white; yellow /green ; and

white/brown/yellow would be handy to have.

4. Some small trolling feathers.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on April 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Pargo liso (mullet snapper) like those being held up here by Jon Luker from Arroyo Grande CA are up in the shallows right now spawning. Roving schools look like a moving carpet of copper and red and are fierce fighters as we try to stop them from getting into the rocks. These are some of the “smaller” guys. Larger ones usually win the battle!

PHOTO 2: No yellowtail to speak of this week as tougher winds made it difficult to get to some of the spots. However, their larger cousins, the amberjack, were in the area. These great eating fish do get up over 100 pounds and are found near rocks, reefs and high spots.

PHOTO 3: Joe Fong holds up a nice pargo that hit the barbecue for sure, knowing Joe. Spring is prime time for these fish that move into shallow areas such as Punta Perrico; S. Cerralvo Island, Pilis (east side of the island) and some other high spots. This is “rock” fishing as we know it…but not deep! These fish are literally in 5-20 feet of water!

TOUGHER CONDITIONS LIMIT YELLOWTAIL BITE BUT INSHORE FISHING TURNS TO OTHER SPECIES

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 29 to April 4

Well, hold everything. Just when we thought we were cruising into solid good fishing and good weather, Mother Nature smacks us with some reality and reminds us that it’s still early spring. Stronger winds and even little hints of rain marked the week’s conditions.

We still got fish, but the problem is that when the winds blow, it gets harder to get the bait. If the sardines are say, over at the island, it makes crossing the channel…even though it isn’t far, a bit of a tough run. Or, alternatively, if the bait is close to shore, high winds generate big waves which makes it difficult to get in close to the rocks to throw the nets from the pangas or, it clouds the water so our captains have a hard time locating the schools of sardines which also tend to scatter or dive too deep.

But, there’s still fish to be caught. The variety is simply dictated by the bait we have and the conditions. If bait is tough, we’re fishing inshore for sierra, roosters and cabrilla as well as small pargo. If the bait is in the tank, then we’re able to go chase the big yellowtail, the pargo and even some dorado and billfish.

No mistaking…we have dorado and billfish here and moving in greater numbers. They’re not quite ready to go on a feeding rampage, but you sure have a better shot if you can chum the waters and get them interested. Kinda like people who think they’re not hungry. They change their mind when you actually put a bowl of potato chips in front of them…snack time!

We did hook a few billfish this week as well as dorado. The pargo spent more time taking guys into the rocks as did the yellowtail. But there are surely fish here to catch!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on March 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

PHOTO 1: Even Captain Victor is smiling. “Lucky” Lenny Bishop of La Paz holds up the RIGHT KIND.” This is a trophy-type yellowtail and Lenny now says it’s his new favorite fish. Despite fish taking him to the rocks he managed to stop this nice hog. The yellowtail are big, mean and definitely here! Lenny was kind enough to also rub it in by sending photos of how he prepared the fish when he got home! (see below)

PHOTO 2: I let Lenny describe it…this is classic. He’s great… “Ok. its THE BEST FISH man we had a Blackened y`tail burger with avocado, sprouts, wasabi mayo coleslaw on a big mexican torta bun, the first meal then crunchy tempura fried strips, dipped in spicy sweet chili japanese dipping sauce…..holy #&@$!!! It was sooooo crunchy…and the sauce! oh…the .sauce…and the baked “tin foil fish” was UNBELIEVABLE too!”

PHOTO 2: Kelly May from Alberta Canada made his first trip down and was all smiles with this nice yellowtail. Note how close to shore they are and the flat waters. The big yellows are in several places around Cerralvo Island, Muertos Bay and Espirito Santo Island the last few weeks.

PHOTO 3: Again, our amigo Lenny (“Don’t call me Leo” ) Bishop with a fresh phat yellowtail he got on live bait fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet this past week. The fish have been running 20-40 pounds…when you can stop them. If you’re not ready, these fish will yank you out’ve your flip-flops!

YELLOWTAIL and INSHORE SPECIES AGAIN TAKE CENTER STAGE WITH GOOD CONDITIONS THIS PAST WEEK

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 21-28, 2010

A good solid week of fishing this past week. Winds were relatively calm most days compared to previous weeks and the yellowtail remained firmly entrenched. They’re biting and they’re big, but putting these hard-charger 25-40 pound fish in the boat aren’t easy when their first instinct is to dive right back to whatever structure is close by.

Guys are busting off alot of fish to the rocks when the fish duck back. You really have to high-stick these fish and put alot of pressure on them to turn them before they rock you. But boy…such great looking fish!

These are solid forktail yellows. These trophy-sized fish will hopefully hold around as long as the waters stay cool from now until May or early June. The guys are hooking the fish with live bait, sardines, mackerel and caballitos or else yo-yo jigging blue/white or yellow/tan/white (scrambled egg) patterns for the deeper fish.

However, most of these fish aren’t deep. Literally 10-40 feet down so that doesn’t give you much room for error. By the time most anglers realize they are bit and react, the fish is already turning and making a freight train back into the rocks.

If you’re fishing the iron and cranking, when the iron suddenly stops and freezes, THAT’S a FISH! Many anglers make the mistake of swinging and trying to set the hook. The secret is to just keep on grinding and winding. Don’t stop! You have to set the hook and bury it into the fish’s mouth or you’ll lose ’em.

Once that hook is buried, believe me, your rod will bend and there’s no doubt the fish is on! Even then, swing on the rod and bury the hook deeper all the while grinding the reel to keep the fish headed up and not down back to the rocks!

As for the pargo. The big red fish are 10-30 pounders and they don’t give you much slack either. Again. big powerful fish that can truck right back into the reef and rocks before you know what’s going on. We’re landing maybe 1 out of every 5 or 6 bites. And then again, only the smaller fish are getting stopped. Captains tell me much larger fish don’t even slow down!

We’ve got some other species as well. Guys are having a blast on the sierra, roosterfish, cabrilla (seabass) and pargo in the shallow spots. Light tackle is the best trick!

FLASH…just as I was writing this…breaking news….it’s winter (that’s not the news)…our boats got dorado and marlin!!! WHOA!!!! More details coming up!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »