BIG MAHI LIKE I HAVE NEVER SEEN
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 19-26, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER – Someone flipped a switch about 2 weeks ago and we went from cool to blazing hot. Even the winds are hot. Definitely shorts and lots of sunscreen with the biggest hat you can bring. It’s in the mid-90’s which doesn’t seem too hot, but the humidity is running 50-70% which makes the air feel really heavy.
WATER – Mostly blue although surprisingly not as warm as it should be. Water temps on the surface are only about 72 which should be closer to 80. However, mostly really calm and flat except when the winds kick up creating chop. Finding fish means finding the warmer blue water .
WIND– No more chilly gusts for sure. But, now it’s been replaced by a hot breeze. Usually the breeze cools things down, but not the ones we’re getting right now. We did have one day when the northwest winds jacked up for a few hours and the water got bumpy. Then, it disappeared in a snap and there wasn’t a ripple on the ocean.
FISH SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado and more dorado. Then more dorado. Roosterfish, jack crevalle, bonito, amberjack, marlin, trevally, pompano, cabrilla, triggerfish, rainbow runners, pargo lisa, pargo mulatto, snapper.
LAS ARENAS REPORT – Most of the week’s bigger model dorado were caught fishing with our Las Arenas fleet. Fish well into the 40-pound class. More species caught on this side as well. Pretty much everything in the list above.
LA PAZ REPORT – Not as many species, but if you wanted to load up on school-sized dorado and easy limits, this was the spot. Often fast easy action and dorado madness. Some nice cabrilla and snapper caught and some schools of small to medium roosters fun on light tackle.
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Three days of big dorado for Doug and Penny Nuffer, our amigos from Utah. Penny fought one dorado well over an hour estimated at over 50 pounds that broke off at the boat.
I love this photo! Al Hed and Mike Jennings from Washington wanted big roosters so they figured they would get an “edge” if Mike wore a chicken head. They insist it’s a rooster head, but I think it looks more like a chicken! It worked. They got a number of our larger roosters this week.
Incredible colors. Chris Bedsaul with Captain Jorge got a fish to match his shirt! Nice dorado and always fun to have Chris visit us.
First-time visitors, Warren Stewart and his wife Krisele with son Austin display 3 of their big bulls.
…and then there’s Mari, Bedsaul. This lady can fish and always takes great photos. Nice little rooster fish for a CPR (Catch…Photo…Release).
First day out was a good one for Allan and Cheryl Herman. That’s quite a haul of dorado on the table!
Some of our funnest first-timers from Colorado had to cancel their trip last year, but Kindra and Brian McGregor roared back with a full week of good dorado fishing and some big bulls like this one posed by Kindra.
Joe Morse from San Diego, brought his group of 7 amigos down and their first day was a good one on the dorado spot.
Captain Joel give Lisa Leduc a hand with this good-looking bull caught north out’ve La Paz Bay.
Wow! That’s a great triple for Captain Pancho flanked by Mike Jennings and Al Hed.
Terry and Stepanie Martell with Captain Armando on the beach at Bahia Muertos posing with 3 of their dorado catch.
Captain Jorge with Mari’s barred pargo. Tasty fish for the fish box!
Andy Lauber from Louisiana went to town on the light tackle one day off Cerralvo Island on these palometas (trevally) landing about a half-dozen
Marcus Yoo is a major in the U.S. Army and in between deployments he usually finds time to pay us a visit and, you can tell, he’s kind of a fun guy to have around! He spent two days fishing and one day diving.
Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland with a nice double shot pair of big dorado. They’re from the Sacramento area.
Happy Birthday to me! Cory Mahan celebrated his 45th with us with some snorkeling and fishing and started things out with a pair of nice bulls on the first day of fishing!
Dion Hyland cradles an early morning bull to kick off the day of fishing.
Captain Armando give Terry and Stephanie Martell help posing with a couple of their first-day catch of dorado. They added more over the next 4 days!
First time visitors Vicki and Scott Shaw were great to have visit. On the beach with Captain Arcangel and more dorado on the table in the foreground too!
Captain Armando has alot of fish cleaning ahead of him, but doesn’t mind after a day like this with Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland and a table full of dorado.
Big jack crevalle in the hands of Big Mike Jennings! These are tough-fighting fish!
Just another day of big dorado for Doug and Penny! They had 3 days of this kind of fishing!
Big smile under that hoodie from Brian McGregor who hit the dorado schools big time with Captain Rogelio all week. Brian is from Colorado and stayed the whole week. First-time visitor!
It’s Mari again with another great catch. Captain Jorge hold the gaff and the dorado.
Captain Jorge, Steve Martin and Dion Hyland with a nice triple!
Whoa!!! This dorado stretches from one side of the panga to the other! Mike and Al with the pose and smiles!
Taller than him? Al Hed holds it up while Mike watches.
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OK…I guess you can figure out what’s been going on this last week-or-so just by looking at the photos!
We have dorado…and we have more dorado. The the surprising part is the amount of dorado and the sheer SIZE of some of these dorado. I’ve seen alot of big dorado down here in 30 years, but I cannot remember a time when we had such a concentration of BIG dorado. Fish running 20-40 pounds have not been uncommon and larger ones have been lost.
Take a look at the photos. These are the ones that were photo’d. For every one in the fish box, clients have told me there are some days when they are catching-and-releasing smaller ones as fast as they can get a hook into the water.
Some boats are finding huge schools of these smaller 5-10 pound fish and it can go crazy.
And then there are the larger ones cruising on the periphery of the school-sized fish or free-swimming solo or in small groups. These are powerful, crafty and acrobatic fish and folks are having alot of fun…and frustration catching them!
Some days folks are actually complaining because “We’re only catching small ones!” or “We only caught two larger ones!” I guess we’re getting a bit spoiled. All fun stuff.
I have no idea how long this will last, but we’ll ride it as long as it goes. There’s some big bunches of sargasso weeds building north and east of the city which continues to hold many of these schools plus the dorado are also gathering around the commercial shark buoys as well.
So….I’d say 95% of the catch has been dorado.
But that’s not the only fish around. There are alot of other species. It’s just that the dorado have been so prevalent and so dynamic, that folks are having too much fun and it’s too easy. There’s that old saying…”Don’t leave fish to find fish.”
So, that’s not to say there are no other fish biting. The roosterfish are still around. There’s pargo, cabrilla, snapper, trevally, pompano, bonito, jack crevalle and even a few billfish. However, most of these have been incidental catches. The focus is on these dorado schools right now!
I think alot has to do with the temperature. We went from cool and breezy weather that was actually cold straight to hot and humid summer weather. It’s like we skipped springtime weather. Temps are in the mid-90’s now and I think we’re in for a warm summer like much of North America.
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Tailhunter Sportfishing
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