La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 5-12, 2020
Mexican Minute Video Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Like alot of places in North America this past week…
It’s been COLD in La Paz to go along with some windy weather. The winds are expected this time of year, but it’s been colder than normal…at least by La Paz standards with us locals bundling up and even the tourists donning the occasional sweatshirt or windbreaker. Although most look at us kinda strange as they walk around in shorts and flip-flops.
Check out this video clip. The voice you hear is Benny outiside Tailhunter Restaurant:
Lots of snowbirds in town and although the temps are in the 60’s and 70’s with the wind, it’s still a lot warmer than where they live back in places like Minnesota, Wyoming and Alaska!
The climate, of course, affects the ability to be out there fishing. It’s been hard to put anyone out there and there’s not that many folks wanting to fish anyway. Or, folks that want to fish understandably get discouraged when they see the winds. Best to just hang out drinking a margarita by the pool!
When folks have been fishing, the better fishing has been tucked in close to shore, especially in areas where you can find some protection from wind and waves. Therefore, the majority of the fish have been inshore specias like cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish, pargo, jack crevalle and sierra. All fun and good eating fish.
When there are window’s of calm, there’s still some dorado around running to about 10 or 15 pounds plus some good action on 5-pound bonito. The larger issue has been finding live bait in which case lures are the most productive way to catch fish. With rough waters it’s tough to get into the areas where the live bait is holding along the shores and rocks.
I’ve heard a few stories about commercial guys finding some yellowtail as well as some private boaters. We’ll keep an eye on that!
ROAD TOUR 2020 HEADED TO SACRAMENTO!
Thank you for the hospitality Denver! We always have a great time!!!
We just wrapped up an incredible 4 day show at the International Sportsmans Expo at the Denver Convention Center. It was fantastic! So great for Jill and I to see so many of our old amigos and make so many new ones! Welcome to the Tailhunter Nation! We took lots of new reservations for 2020 and we’re looking foward to the visit!
At the time you’re reading this, Jill and I will be on the road headed west. We have about 1000 miles to cover to get to the next show which is the International Sportsmans Expo at the California Fairgrounds in Sacramento CA. This is a HUGE show with tons of stuff to see and do. Bring your walking shoes and the whole family! I’m told more than 700 exhibitors will be on hand to talk about fishing, hunting, camping, boating, RV’s, kayaking and so much more!
Jill and I will be there in our booth with new flyers, brochures and hats all four days Jan. 16-19 (Thursday to Sunday). Let’s talk about fishing in 2020! Hope to see you there!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 28, 2019-Jan. 5, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY. . .
From Richfield, Utah, Monte and Marlene Aldridge got in one day of fishing and picked the one day of the week when waters were calm enough and got some nice biters on some big sierra mixed in with dorado out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos south of La Paz.
Yup…it’s wintertime, but there’s still dorado around! Nice little bull mahi for Marlene.
Some great eating and great fun on light tackle, Monte has a speedy toothy sierra.
It pays to watch the weather. This past week there were some incredible uber windy and cold days. Normally, these are days we would recommend not going fishing. We even had some rain this past week. It happens. It’s winter. It’s off-season.
Some folks decided they still wanted to go fishing. So, off they went despite my warnings. Didn’t catch much of anything and it was so rough they had to come back early. We had others booked but had to cancel them because of the rough weather.
Honestly, only about 2 days this week would have been fishable at all.
However, we also had folks who were flexible on their fishing days and let me tell them when they should go fishing. And, sure enough, they found fish. Surprisingly, pretty decent fishing. Most amazing was the mixture of fish.
Cold-water fish like big sierra typical of this time of year were running 5-8 pounds. However, mixed right in were some school-sized dorado. The strange thing is that dorado are warm water fish that we usually catch during the warmer summer and fall months. So, they’re normally not running this time of year!
Along with those species, there were jags of bonito and scattered jack crevalle as well as snapper and cabrilla along the shoreslines where there was structure such as reefs, rocks and drop offs.
The weather makes all the difference. The coming week forecast mostly cloudy weather again to start the year with winds running 15-20 mph at times.
WE ARE COMING YOUR WAY! ROAD TOUR 2020!
By the time you’re reading this, Jilly and I will be on the road for our 2020 Tailhunter Road Tour coming to see you! We’ll be on the road through April criss-crossing the western U.S. and hitting up the biggest and most awesome fishing and hunting shows in the world!
In our brand new Tailhunter-mobile, we’ll be hitting a different show each week with our booth, flyers and brochure and would love to see you and talk to you about fishing with us in La Paz in 2020.
These shows are massive and there are hundreds-upon-hundreds of exhibitors from all over the world to tell you about fishing, hunting, camping, RV’s, kayaking, boating, trekking…basically anything outdoors! Great for the entire family.
In order, we’ll be hitting:
DENVER CO
SACRAMENTO CA
SEATTLE/PUYALLUP WA
PORTLAND OR
SALT LAKE CITY UT
LONG BEACH CA
SCOTTSDALE/PHOENIX AZ
SANDY (Salt Lake City) UT
DEL MAR (San Diego) CA
Our first show will be this week at the International Sportsmans Expo held Thursday to Sunday at the Denver Convention Centerdowntown. Here’s a link with all the info:
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not too different even in Mexico! Christmas scenes like this one with kids lining up for visits with Santa and their favorite cartoon characters downtown La Paz.
Manger scenes for Christmas in La Paz
Town is kinda quiet right now! It’s that lull between the holidays and not many folks in town right now except for some snowbirds and kiteboarders and windsurfers taking advantage of the winter breezes. Not really many folks on the water as this is off-season for fishing, but even then, most folks in town are just enjoying the sunshine and getting ready for Christmas. Definitely seems like you can already smell the tamales cooking on the streets! But, lights are up and folks are doing Christmas shopping and that’s kind of it.
Some action for fishing has mostly been inshore. There’s a decent bite over the rocky spots of cabrilla up to about 5 pounds plus snapper and pargo. All great eating fish. The hard-pullers include some nice jack-crevalle running up to about 10 pounds plus good activity on bonito. Really hard to get a complete fishing picture when not many folks are fishing. It was too bad because this past week was one of the better weeks for weather and minimal winds.
I’m sure town is gonna start getting more crowded in the next few days as we get closer to Christmas.
BOOKING FOR 2020
It’s not too early to check on getting your dates together for next year which hits us in just a few weeks already! Reservations are already coming in steadily and some dates are filling fast and a few are already sold out. Don’t wait to see at at one of the sport shows. Last year, by March, we were largely all booked up. Get in touch with us today. Check out the website at http://www.tailhunter.com or e-mail me directly at Jonathan@tailhunter.com and let’s get you set up to fish with us in La Paz in 2020!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 1-8, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Amigo, Roger Thompson made it out to the south end of Cerralvo Island between bouts of wind and trolled up this nice wahoo.
Roger was pulling a dark Rapala looking for wahoo when this hefty yellowfin tuna ripped his line.
Typical catch right now…some inshore reef fish like the cabrilla and trigger fish; mix in some bonito and a bonus dorado. All close to shore.
Not too many folks fishing these days in the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas and town almost seemed deserted this week, but the crowds will eventually come.
The city is nicely moving into Christmas mode!
Winds were a little milder than normal so some folks were able to get out fishing. Most of the fishing was inshore for jack crevalle, snapper, and cabrilla, although some larger pargo were reportedly lost. Bonito schools can be problematic or a lot of fun depending on your point of view.
There are still some small schools of dorado running around with most fish in the 10-15 pound class.
When winds are down, there’s some good action with bait on light tackle for some nicer grade of tuna in the 40-80 pound range that can be tough battles on the smaller line that get them to bite. Rapalas like the darker deep-runners also kicked up some wahoo.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 17-24, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
He makes several trips a year to La Paz and Kevin Shiotani from Thousand Oaks always does well. He’s on the beach at Bahia Muertos near La Paz with this big tuna estimated at 90 pounds that he took near Cerralvo Island on light tackle. He also put some dorado in the panga as well. Over the years, Kevin has caught some of the largest fish we’ve seen.
Dana Hohn was visiting La Paz from Texas and staying with relatives in La Ventana but got out several days near Cerralvo Island and put several wahoo like this one in the boat trolling Rapalas.
Behind that fish is Kevin Hohn. Visiting from Texas with his wife, they hooked 11 wahoo over 3 days.
Not many anglers in town as we approach the holidays and the week started out stormy and windy and tailed off at the end-of-the-week with windy and stormy weather. The kiteboarders and windsurfers are enjoying this for a reason, but not such great weather for fishing.
There were a few days mid-week that gave us a few windows of opportunity. The better fishing has been out’ve Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay which is at least a little more protected from the northern winds and bigger water that’s common this time of year.
As mentioned, not many anglers out, but those few who got out found some surprisingly nice wahoo fishing by Cerralvo Island with 20-40 pound fish willing to hit those dark-colored Rapalas and Yo-Zuri Magnums. Multiple hook-ups were not uncommon. The same area also produced some hefty tuna bites wit 50-100 pound class ahi, although most fish were lost because they would only bite light line resulting in some long drawn-out battles that usually favored the fish and beat up the angler!
When we couldn’t get to the island, fishing concentrated inshore for some decent dorado, cabrilla, snapper, bonito and jack crevalle.
Looks like a bit more rain and wind in the forecast.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Alot of meat! Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles had a live mackerel pinned to her line not far from Punta Arenas with Captain Pancho when she hooked this massive wahoo not far from the shoreline. The big fish was weighed on a scale and measured 56-pounds!
It’s been over 10 years since Mark Rubin came to visit us so it was good to see him. He was out fishing with Captain Arcangel and got this colorful dorado up for a great photo!
On her first day out and first-time in La Paz, Kathy Parker was with Captain Luis and deckie Miguel in the channel between the city and Espirito Santo Island in an area where big 50-150 pound tuna had been sighted. On her first bait in the water, this big yellowfin inhaled her little sardine and the fight was on! With her sister, Sherry (see photo below), trading the rod-back-and-forth for 4 long hours, the ladies finally got this big boy to the boat!
Holly Kunzler’s big dorado of the week was caught while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Holly’s first trip to Baja and she was with us for the better part of the week visiting from Utah.
Our long-time amigos with their favorite Captain Jorge, Marianne and Jeff Sakuda enjoying Jeff’s retirement vacation after 30 years as a pilot for United, they kicked off things with a nice rack of bull dorado.
Double tag-team! Sherry Cady was on her 2nd visit to us this year and this time brought her sister, Kathy Parker (see photo above) when they hung this big yellowfin tuna with deckhand Miguel and Captain Luis and battled the fat fish for 4 hours!
Montana Dewey and Leslie Spafford guide trips in Arizona and came to visit this week and go into some dorado and cabrilla their first day at Las Arenas.
First-timer and happy fisherman, George Misner, started his trip with a nice bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos.
Popular Captain Chito hung two of those big tuna that were boiling north of La Paz for a few days. Unfortunately, photos of the clients didn’t come out!
Hi Craig! Always good to have Craig Corda back with us . He’s been our amigo for over 20 years and never has a bad day.
Al Chaves lives outside of Phoenix and was out with Captain Jorge when he got this dorado. He had a big tuna on briefly.
Jarat Bagwell from Arizona got the jackpot with his buddies when he caught the most fish for the day including dorado, cabrilla and snapper.
Texas in the house! Cody Timberlake is a professional cowboy and former bullrider and lives in Banderas TX. First trip with us and a dorado with Captain Alfredo.
Monte Aldridge shows off a bull dorado he picked up fishing off Espirito Santo Island. He’s from Richfield UT and always good to have him visit.
Eric Gunnells and Steve Bayer picked up these dorado on their one day out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Burnett and her husband Jerry have their own great salmon operation in Juneau AK, but came to visit us and started off with a day of dorado.
These are great eating triggerfish! Best ceviche and fish tacos! Captain Jorge with or friends, Jeff and Marianne Sakuda.
Captain Fili is hidden behind a dorado, but no hiding Zach Arnold and Trent Baysinger and a couple of nice mahi.
Good to see Captain Arcangel smiling. Nice dorado in the box again for Mark.
Things have fallen off rapidly with cooler temperature, stronger winds and currents and rougher water the last week-and-a-half. Fishing has also dropped off dramatically. The warm water season ended sooner than expected and I think things will continue to change as warm water species like the dorado, tuna, wahoo, and billfish move out and are replaced by more inshore cooler water species.
Once again this week, captains and clients worked hard to find picky fish. Bait was harder to come by in the rougher waters and there were times with there were some uncharacteristically big swells, chop and gusty winds making it more difficult to fish. The winds will only get stronger as normally calm La Paz Bay even got some big wind-generated rollers that smashed waves onto the waterfront areas.
There were still some dorado around although the schools are diminishing. Most days boats scratched out a catch of 1-5 dorado per day with most about 10 pounds or so. Smaller ones were released. Lots of bonito, fortunately usually kept rods bent.
More inshore fish like triggerfish, snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra and jack crevalle and pompano increased in the counts as waters cooled and it became more incumbent to fish closer to the beaches and rocks.
There are, however, some great catches still waiting!
We had a few nice wahoo this week including a whopper 56-pounder by Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles. As well, there’s still the occasional 30-50 pound roosterfish.
The biggest surprise was the appearance of some pig yellowfin tuna that were in the 50-150 pound class between Punta Tecolote and Espirito Santo Island in the channel. These fish were toads that tore into anglers for 1-4 hour battles, when they would bite. Sometimes, they were just a tease boiling around the pangas, but not interested in eating a hooked bait. But, when they did bite, they were beasts! Normally, we don’t see tuna around La Paz as we catch them mainly around Las Arenas so this was a nice surprise!
BOOKING FOR 2020 STARTING TO FILL
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our reservations are coming in faster than normal and many dates in 2020 are getting filled. Calls and e-mails are coming in daily. Some dates are already sold out. In 2019 we were filled by March.
We don’t want to miss you. If you have a favorite captain, hotel or date in mind, don’t wait. Especially, don’t wait until we do our fishing and hunting show tour in the winter. We want to be sure we have you down and covered so we can have you visit next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 6, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
You never forget the first. Especially, when you have been trying for years like John Gibbs and Wiley Randolph who visit us every year and finally nailed their first wahoo…on the same day…on the same panga with Captain Pancho.
It’s easy to see why these guys are fun. With Captain Jorge, James Ekern, Corey Sowers and George Aun from Utah and a bunch of dorado.
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First day and first time fishing with us, Steve Salbeck, rocked this big dog-tooth snapper with Captain Moncho. That’s alot of meat for the ice chest.
Eric Sanchez gives buddy Adam Nystuen with a nice wahoo they took off Bahia Muertos.
Scott Milligan and Dave Sedeno posing with their first day catch with quite a variety including, dorado, pompano and snapper .
Funny shot with Dana Murray our amigo from Washington who has a tuckered tongue out hefting this 50-pound class tuna to pose with Captain Armando.
A sweet-looking bull dorado and blue water! Brian Schwalbe gets some grins with Captain Luis who caught this with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Fili with another pompano and Rich Sisk and Scott Pepper hold up some of their first-day catch on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Enjoying some Baja sunshine from Montana where it was snowing 30″ this week, Pepper Paul Hamlin has a couple of nice bull dorado and a great shirt!
Brothers who fish together, the Suzumoto brothers, Thomas, Luke and John with Captain Jorge. Couldn’t find nicer guys. With us for the first time.
This trio is trouble and always having fun catching a big rack of dorado to match their shirts, Nino Bonfiglio, Captain Victor and Jim Gatti.
Mark Self just had one day to fish and got one of the largest dorado of the week.
Wiley’s biggest dorado ever despite many trips to fish with us here in La Paz! He was fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
Brian had himself a nice week of fishing with this marlin his largest of the week and he shared the meat with his group.
Check out Al Jones and the variety of fish on the cutting board. He’s got dorado, white bonito, cabrilla, triggerfish and yellow snapper.
Our newly retired forestry amigos from Carson City NV, on their 2nd trip with us got a pile of dorado, triggerfish, pompano and jack crevalle.
A solid trophy barred pargo on the gaff for Chris Aiello. Great eating.
Kim Bell fought this nice plug yellowfin tuna for 45 minutes all by herself as it pulled the panga around. Good job!
Too cool from Colorado, Dave Van Steenkiste and Randall Sullivan got themselves a good batch of dorado for the day.
Great colors. Ken has another mahi for the box.
Gerardo gets into the photo with Bob Larson and Bill Bigelman who have a big pompano to go along with their dorado.
We finally got some wahoo in the boat! Wiley Randolph and Captain Pancho got the gaff in this big boy.
Early morning mahi! John Gibbs starts the day with a bull in the boat. Incredible colors.
Eric from Phoenix and Kendall from Denver on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
The man behind the mask with the huge bull is Brian Schwalbe.
Bob Manney is all smiles with his day’s fishing results. Bob is from Washington and visits us each year.
Captain Arcangel has been on our team for almost 25 years and is popular with many of our Tailhunter anglers. Take a look at the baby wahoo in his left hand. They thought it was a needlefish at first!
Tim Bell is all grins with Captain Jorge. Tuna and dorado headed to the fillet table.
Three of the best folks in the world…Captain Joel…Emily Duncan from Santa Barbara…our own Jorge Romero.
The Zuckerman brothers, Mike and Dave with a load of pompano, a barred pargo and a dorado. Lots of variety this past week.
Scott and Alfred after their first day with dorado, pompano, jack crevalle.
This is just funny…it’s not every day that the police inspector on the beach let’s loose and poses with the fishermen, but Angelo Oliverio, Captain Armando and Ken Campbell get a thumbs-up from the big man!
We probably could not have asked for a better week. The seasons are changing and to go along with mild sunny temperatures and cool tropical breezes, the fish were on their game finally!
Whether you fished with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet or our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, there was no shortage of action. Occasionally, one boat might be off-target, but for the most part, it was all the dorado you could possibly stand!
Limits or near limits of mahi were common with lots more released for being too small or over-limits. We had some boat on some days back on the beach by 10 or 11 a.m. with happy anglers ready to hit the pool, nice lunch and a siesta!
If there was any difference between our two fleets, the dorado seemed larger for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and for our La Paz Fleet, there were a lot more fish. .. but they tended to be smaller. Most fish ran 10-15 pounds with occasional 20-35 pounders and larger fish lost.
In between the dorado, add a smattering of hard-fighting bonito, jack crevalle, a pargo or cabrilla and too many pesky needlefish and it was usually a fully day of bent rods and grinning clients!
The highlights of the week were surely the jags of yellowfin tuna that finally popped up and landed in the boats. Best spots were with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet using live bait with the fish as small as footballs but as large as 50-pounders. I wouldn’t go so far as saying we have a “tuna bite” starting up, but it’s encouraging to finally see some tuna in the boxes.
Even better was that we finally hit some wahoo as well. We’ve been getting teased by biters for that last week or two, but none of the fish stuck and it’s been months since one was landed. We lost a few more this week, but at least we also got some onto the gaffs and onto the fish cleaning tables. They were nice 20-45 pound ‘hoos!
Waters are cooling down. Air temps are very moderate with minimal humidity. Breezes are coming more from the north so the season is changing. It’s really really pleasant here right now.
ALERT for 2020 FISHING WITH TAILHUNTERS!
Just a heads-up for all our Tailhunter amigos…we are really booking up fast for 2020! This year 2019 we were largely sold out by MARCH!!! Some dates for next year are already sold out.
If you have some favorites dates, rooms hotels AND CAPTAINS, don’t hesitate. Do not wait until we come to your town at one of the sportsman’s shows. We are even getting bookings for 2021 and we want to make sure we have you covered for fishing and visiting us next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 20-29, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Big dorado of the week by a long-shot, Jon Eide came to see us again from Minnesota and got this big bull north of La Paz.
Mike Murray and Danny Lewis from Lancaster CA tag-teamed this blue marlin estimated at about 250 pounds on their panga just north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet. The fish ate a live sardine on 50-pound test and was not able to be released after a long fight.
Herkko Miettinen came all the way from Finland and was fishing with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz and his friend Kris Honkola when he hooked and landed this pretty dog-tooth snapper on a chunk of bonito in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos.
Nice first roosterfish for Toni Brown from Salt Lake City who was fishing for dorado near Punta Arenas when the big fish bit just off the rocky area. She was fishing with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet and was able to release the fish.
Another of our fun amigos from Finland, Jussi Nassi poses with his first striped marlin that fed alot of folks that night for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.
Thumbs-up day for Greg and Larry Chastain to start their week with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
Captain Lorenzo with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz hoists up a big dog-tooth snapper for Jim Ginther who came to enjoy some sunshine all the way from Minnesota.
Oregon boys on the beach, Brad Bennett and Jon Barnard had themselves a full week with lots of species of fish including these dorado plus a big barred pargo.
Captain Gerardo gets in the photo with first-timers Merit Olmstead and Mike Dangler who kicked off their first day with an excellent rack of dorado plus pompano and barred pargo . Great eating!
Nice shot! Nice fish. Great colors! Kirk Shandrew is the amigo behind the mask with the barred pargo . Kirk is from Elko, NV.
Captain Armando and Gary Okizaki from Cypress, CA and his big dorado of the day.
Doesn’t get much prettier than these colors on Mark Brown’s dorado as he’s given a hand by Captain Gerardo. Mark is from Salt Lake City UT
You always remember that first one…Kirk Shandrew rocked this striper north of La Paz his first day.
Pound-for-pound, there aren’t too many fish that fight harder than these jack crevalle (“toro”). Bruce Luscombe took this one on the flyrod making it doubly tough!
Big smiles from Justin West who stuck this nice barred pargo. It was a pretty good week for these fish which is unusual this time of year. Great fighters and great eating too! Trophy size!
That’s a nice mix of reefish there including yellow snapper, triggerfish and palometas for John Vondrak, Joe Eide and Bruce Luscombe with Captain Victor.
Another good day on the water and another dorado for the box for Toni Brown.
Two new friends from Idaho who started their trip with a box full of dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet, Peggy and Joe Manning.
Here’s a pair! Bill Schroeder and Tom Lathrop with double dorado for the camera.
Captain Luis poses with Mike Kingsmore who took this dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Adding to the variety! Bryan and his dad Steve Smith with a palometa and dorado. Bryan’s first trip. Steve visits us every year.
Kirk Shandrew and another tough jack crevalle caught, battled and released!
Hurricane Lorena reached category 1 status last weekend and came directly over La Paz instead of veering off as had been originally predicted. Fortunately, other than some heavy flooding, a few roads washing out and felling some trees and power poles, no one was injured and property damage was relatively minimal compared to other hurricanes that have blown through. The most damage appears to have occurred out towards Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ La Ventana and El Sargento over the hill from La Paz.
The biggest issue for us were all the anglers who got stuck for several days. With the beaches getting battered; the seas in a cauldron and the port captain shutting down all boat traffic, there wasn’t much to do for the several dozen visitors we had who were suddenly locked in.
Others were trying to get home and to the airport. Many more were trying to fly in. However, with flights canceled and the Cabo Airport closed, folks either had to stay extra days in La Paz or conversely, lost days of vacation because they couldn’t fly down.
Although the storm itself was relatively minor as hurricanes go, the after-effects have been tremendous.
In terms of climate, post-Lorena, air temperatures have dropped dramatically from the high 90’s and low 100’s to the low 90’s. Almost a 10 degree drop across the board. Additionally, humidity has fallen from the muggy 70-80% steambath to a very comfortable 50% these following days. Accompanied by stronger winds reminiscent of later October, it’s actually been quite comfortable causing many of us to remark that we suddenly lost summer. Fall dropped in like someone had thrown a switch.
The bite, as well, was heavily affected.
Right after Lorena moved north, it cause tropical storm Mario, holding off the Pacific Coast to move into the vacuum. So, early in the week brought continued cloudiness, rough seas and occasional rainstorms.
All of this caused the bite to take it’s time getting back up to speed.
Prior to the storm, we had the best dorado bite of the season going. We had the best marlin bite I have ever seen in over 2 decades. After Lorena, it took awhile to gain momentum again.
The week started pretty scratchy ,but with each progressive day, the waters cleared up and the fish started to bite again. It wasn’t as full-turbo as the week before, but fairly decent action kept improving with mostly dorado biting for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets.
Most of the dorado were respectable 10-20 pound fish. There were a few larger. Many smaller fish were released.
Additionally, both blue and striped marlin improved as well with a number of fish hooked each day while anglers were trying to catch dorado. Consequently, many fish were hooked (and quite a few lost) on light tackle! Most hooked fish were released.
Still no tuna or wahoo to speak of although this should be prime-time for both species. Occasionally, one or two tuna get picked up, but the schools are either moving too fast or pop up and boil, then quickly go back down. On several occasions, the fish were boiling but refused to take baits. Checking the stomachs of several hooked tuna, we found their bellies full of small squid which could account for their unwillingness to take a hooked bait.
As for other species, the change in weather seems to have a dramatic effect on other species as well. It’s almost as if we are fishing in June conditions again. We’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, the occasional yellowtail and amberjack, pompano and even some sierra plus those big dog-tooth snapper again.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 15-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
I shot this earlier than normal…two days before the end of the week as Hurricane Lorena was about to hit us and I did not know at the time if we would lose electricity and internet. Plus, I had a feeling that the rest of week we’d have to cancel fishing for a day or two. So, it’s a little longer than normal as well because there was alot to chat about!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Hurricane Lorena was supposed to have veered off, but at the last minute came straight for us. It could have been alot worse as it dropped rain and wind on us for about 12 hours before moving on. The biggest issue was that we had to cancel fishing and diving and lots of folks got stuck when the airlines shut down or the airport got closed.
What an incredible marlin bite we had! For several days mid-week we had the best marlin fishing we have ever seen where almost every panga each day hooked 1-4 marlin like the Lauby Brothers…Justin and Noah…who hooked for marlin in 2 days. Most fish over the week were released and much meat was donated.
One of our newest funnest Tailhunter tribe members, Mari Bedsaul had some fun with us and got into some of that fun dorado fishing with Captain Alfredo.
Captain Arcangel looks like he’s checking the teeth of this big roosterfish…or looking for the hook so they can release it! But nice first rooster for Jon Sparks! And yes…they were able to release it!
The biggest tuna of the week and her first ever for Kasey Dewey from Washington. Tough fish, especially for a first-timer and she did great!
April Perry, husband Ryan and brother Taylor Sering got this blue marlin in that great marlin bite this week tag-teaming the rod on light tackle! One of the few blues that was caught. Most of the fish were able to be released and much meat was donated.
Dave Sowards has been visiting us for several years and always seems to do well. He got this striper with Captain Chito and had several others on as well.
Love this shot!!! Big smiles from Taylor Sering and Captain Luis plus a nice bull dorado as well.
That’s quite a table of fish for Larry Axtell and Clint Lowe from Idaho with Captain Fili including dorado, triggers and jack crevalle.
First marlin for firefighter Kallie Stahley who came down with her dad and were at the start of the marlin and dorado bite this week.
Not many tuna this week, but Greg Walter poses with a couple of nice footballs!
What a great shot and a super fish! Fishing wit Captain Jorge right off Punta Perico, Mari Bledsaul started her fishing week with a hefty roosterfish caught…photo’d…and released! Nicely done!
Great color and one of our newest amigas at Tailhunter, April Perry, from easter Washington poses with a fresh dorado.
Two funny guys and their tuna! Lou Torres and Frank Marshall! Tuna were hard to come by this week just when I thought they’d turn on!
Hard to find too many nicer guys than Chris Bedsaul showing off his first roosterfish. The fish was released!
Yes, there’s still lots of big hard-charging jack crevalle around to bend rods like this bad boy caught by Stefan Zeltvay. Cousin to the roosterfish, the Mexican name for them is “toro” (bull) for good reason. They are roosterfish without the headgear!
First day on the water with a sweet bit of tuna and dorado fillets for Randy and Kasey Dewey with Captain Gerardo peeking from behind.
Double dorado on the beach for April Sering. Some of it headed to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner
Another dorado for Mari north of La Paz.
Wow…what a week!
Initially with the full moon, I was wondering if the lunar phase would affect the nice dorado bite we had been having. I’m not a big believer in how the moon affects our fishing down here, but you just never know!
So, the week kicked off with no big change in the dorado bite. In fact, it got better and the fish got bigger! Especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, it was pretty typical to get limits of 10-20 or 25 pound dorado and then catch and release many many more. Lots of fun!
How can you beat this photo! Dorado underwater! Thanks, Chris Bedsaul!
But, then the craziest thing happened…
The marlin went crazy nut insane! In 25 years here, I have never seen anything like it. For 4 days, almost all our pangas were hooking 1-4 marlin per boat per day! Stripers up to 120 pounds! Blue Marlin in the 150-250 pound range! We even had a 600 pound marlin at one point.
Here’s what some of our folks said:
“We had two marlin on the line and another one came up and bit a 3rd rod the captain had in the water. He was trying to figure out which marlin to chase after with the boat!”
“We hooked and released two marlin and tried to get away from them and moved the boat. Two marlin swam after the boat like they wanted to be fed!”
“Our panga was in the middle of the dorado school and we had two fish one and I happened to look down and saw a marlin just kinda hanging under the boat. Then, I felt a bump and realized there was another marlin bumping the boat!”
“Pretty exciting stuff. In 3 days, we hooked and released 5 marlin on light tackle including 4 stripers and 1 blue. My wife says she loves fishing now! Our last fish we were on our way in and had one rod out with a little feather and a striper bit it!”
The big issue was that so many of these fish showed up while guys were going full-turbo in the dorado schools. Consequently, they were fishing with light 30 and 40 pound test…small hooks and small baits when the marlin bit. Many of the marlin were not only eating the baits, but also eating the dorado.
On light tackle, the fights were long and epic.
Dave again!
The bad thing was that many folks tried to release fish but the fish were exhausted. We released the majority of the fish, but some were not able to be released but many of our anglers donated meat to needy folks here in town. Also, because of the small hooks and lines, the marlin were swallowing the hooks all the way down and that also made it difficult to release fish!
The other aspect is that as long as some fights were…others were short and some of the larger fish, especially, the blue marlin were lost! By day 3, many of our captains were putting some heavier gear aboard!
Then…Hurricane Lorena showed up!
Relatively small compared to many others, but it started heading towards Baja and really didn’t look like much other than maybe a little wind and rain. Then, the “Hurricane Watch” became Hurricane “Warning.” It was definitely headed up to Baja! However, the initial advisories indicated it would veer off to the Pacific and La Paz would only get the edge of the storm.
However, as sometimes happens, late Friday, the storm turned and put us right in the crosshairs on a direct collision. So…
C’mon man…you said you weren’t going to hit us!
Airports closed…flights got canceled…the port closed and no boats were allowed out…folks started getting ready with water, candles, flashlights and extra beer. A lot of our anglers got stuck for an extra night or two unable to leave. Others trying to get in couldn’t fly down because of canceled flights or the closed Cabo Airport.
When the storm finally hit, it was a lot weaker than so many storms we’ve had, but enough to drop wind and rain on us for about 12 hours and keep everyone pinned indoors all night watching the storm. Fortunately, other than some flooding and downed trees, no one was hurt and very little property damage. It was just a big wet “inconvenient” pain-in-the-butt!
Frankly, many of our clients partied and rolled with it and were very patient with us and the circumstances. However, I felt badly for those that lost fishing days or got stuck one way-or-the-other.
As of Saturday morning the airports opened and normalcy started returning as we dried out and dug out.
Not sure how this will affect the fishing but we’ll keep you posted!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2019
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – hot and humid. Very tropical. Afternoon and occasional thunderstorms and flash flooding but otherwise sunny and in the mid to high 90’s. Evenings low 80’s with a breeze.
Water – blue bathwater overall, but still come cold patches. Might start getting colder soon. Feels a bit like fall already. A short summer.
Fishing (Scale of 1-10) – Maybe a high 6. Still not where we should be this time of year although there’s solid dorado fishing mostly. This is what it should be in July.
Fish Caught – 90% dorado mainly because that’s what 90% are fishing for! But we’ve had some jags of tuna. We’ve lost marlin and wahoo. Roosterfish are still around but not many folks fishing for them. Dorado are easy and fun. Seeing more of those big dog-tooth, snapper, cabrilla, sierra, pargo, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, needlefish.
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just a great frameable shot with awesome colors! Lee Hazelquist with a big grin!
Another joyous ecstasy photo! Steve Avery with us for the first time put this beast dog-tooth snapper in the boat and he has every reason to be happy about this trophy!
Oh yea! About time! Joe Duffy who runs a charter operation up in the Bay Area with his dad, Noel (who came all the way from Ireland) and a nice yellowfin tuna just off Punta Perrico!
My funny buddy, Brian Buchanan, had a good week of dorado fishing with us. Brian is from the Salt Lake City area.
These two great guys had a fun week of fishing. First timers with Tailhunter Paul Marshall and Steve Avery.
For almost 20 years, our buddy retired firefighter Mac Treasure from Reno NV brings a great bunch of guys to visit us. This week, Mac stuck himself this big fat dog-tooth fishing with Captain Pancho.
They got Captain Arcangel to smile! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrel with a load of fish to start their trip.
Everyone’s favorite guy and hard working amigo, Jorge Romero, finally took a day off and got out to fish! Nice dorado Jorge!
The right kind! It’s about time! Captain Jorge gives a thumbs up for Jaimy Stolberg’s hefty tuna she battled just outside of Muertos Bay!
Great shot! Captain Armando helps out Geoff Merker from San Diego with a nice dorado off Punta Perico. Check the flat waters!
Dale and Dean Dzwonierek with Captain Jorge and a bunch of dorado on the fish cleaning table.
Nyle Miyamoto from Washington with a colorful bull.
First rooster for Jon Gallant from San Diego just off Punta Perico. Fish was released. Roosters are still around but with so much attention on dorado no one is really fishing for them.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer dorado photo than this one with John Birtwistle from Woodland CA. Great shot and good fish, JB!
Two of our nicest friends for many years from Oregon, Dorothy and Steve Murata started their vacation with some dorado and a couple of yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Gerardo.
Trudy Grove with another dorado! She had a super week with the mahi and has been visiting us from Salt Lake City for many many seasons. Always good to have her down to see us!
Joaquin Perea from Woodland CA never has a bad day and always a pleasure to have him down. Another nice dorado for the cooler!
Denver in the house! Bill Johnson put a double pair on the cleaning table his first day.
A big fish dinner in their future! Fishing with Captain Jorge (in the background) Clint and Jaimy Stolberg pose with a good day’s production of dorado and tuna!
I told Tim Larson if he took a good photo, I would finally get him in the fishing report! Nicely done, Tim! You’re on!!! It’s a great shot. We told him no hat. No sunglasses. Good lighting. No blood!
You can always tell a flyfishing guy. They always put their rods in their mouths! They need one extra hand! Well-done, Joaquin! He got several fish on his flyrod.
Stephen Chalbourg and his amigo, Bo, came all the way from Minnesota to fish and got these two lengthy females.
Another of our great Washington amigos, Jim Lundeen shows off one of his mahi.
Funniest guy of the week…Billy Baker! You’re on the fishing report, Billy! Good to have you here and thanks for all the laughs!
Two of our retired firefighters, Bernie Smith and Brian Rubino with Captain Adolfo.
Just another good day for Captain Gerardo as he checks out the dorado catch of Les Lovell and Terry Daniels.
Visting us for the 2nd year-in-a-row. Good to have you down, Fish Brother! Ryan Netherton who also got in a day of SCUBA diving as well! Ryan is from San Diego.
Joaquin Perea and Paul Marshall having some fun on the beach after another solid day on the water.
That’s a legit fish! John Birtwistle and a shiny dorado. Cerralvo Island in the background.
Paul and Steve with more dorado fillets coming up!
Despite the full-moon, another pretty solid week of dorado fishing overall with fish scattered over a wide-range of ocean both inshore and offshore. It’s pretty hard NOT to catch a dorado right now if you have a bait, lure or jig in the water. It’s probably 90% of the catch!
There’s lots of other species around, but when the fun-fighting, easily caught and tasty dorado around, folks don’t usually spend much time chasing the other species! This is especially true for a lot of our first-timers or less-experienced anglers.
Not every boat does great every single day. There’s always the 1 or 2 boats that only get a few dorado or really have to work at it on a given day, and I hate it when maybe those folks are only fishing single day. But, if you’re fishing multiple days, it’s difficult to keep the dorado off your hook and you’ll go home with some great meat for the dinner plate and freezer.
But, there are other species around.
We had some marlin hook-ups and breakoffs.
We had at least 1 or 2 wahoo bites that got unbuttoned per day.
If you wanted a roosterfish, yes ,the 30-60 pounders are still around.
Inshore, there’s cabrilla, pargo and those big-dog-tooth snapper are willing to bite if you are into putting in the time and are up to the frustration of nearly getting yanked out’ve your socks only to have the fish bust you off in the shallow rocks.
More excitingly, late in the week, we had some jags of 20-40 pound yellowfin tuna pop up. These fish have been absent for about 2 months and this is the time we should be seeing them, but have been conspicuously absent the latter part of this week. I don’t wanna jinx it and say the tuna season has started, but hopefully, this is the start of some better tuna fishing.
SHOUT OUT THANK YOU
Our community outreach program is still rolling full turbo. Just sent a huge load of goods out to Los Planes to the kids and the community out there! We also collected enough money this last week to sponsor two more kids for a whole year of school (books, food, uniforms, transportation…and they in turn have to keep up their grades and mentor another student).
No sooner did that load go out, then even more started coming in! I was not able to get everyone’s photos, but some are below. But a special shout-out to Tim Schlander who’s guys brought in numerous ice chests packed full of clothes, school clothes, hygiene items and more!! Thanks for the big hearts to them and all of you who keep bringing both adult and childrens items and have helped us deliver several TONS of needed items over the last few years!
Justin and Noah Lauby with lot of great adult clothes! (Everyone targets the kids so great to get some adult stuff!)
From Bakersfield, nice smiles and great school supplies from Don and Gwen Parnell.
Our Utah Tailhunter Tribe…Brian Buchanan, Trudy Grove, Kathy and John Terbu with a whole table full of great stuff!
Tailhunter Fish Report 