WHAT??? No, I didn’t poach this photo! We actually got yellowtail this week at the Las Arenas lighthouse and Jorge Romero, our good amigo, rocked 3 of them fishing deep using dead mackerel with fish up to 30 pounds. In 20 years here, I have NEVER seen yellowtail here. These fish are cold water fish we find in March to May! Crazy El Nino!
They’re finally getting a bit bigger! La Paz Bay and north towards Espirto Santo Island has been our “go-to” spot for dorado this season, but the fish have been smaller than normal. Finally getting some in the 15-25 pound category. San Francisco amigo, Paul Nagata with another bull for the box.
Before she heads back to college in Colorado, Taylor Marino and Captain Victor teamed up for some nice big roosters caught and released just off the beach near Muertos. All on bait.
The kids are alright! The youngsters had some great stories to tell when they get back to school this week. Andrew Harvey has to be back in school next week for 8th grade, but he had a great time fishing all week getting in some great fishing including catching and releasing this big roosterfish. Andrew lives in Del Mar, CA.
Long-time amigos of Tailhunter Michael Jordan from Santa Barbara and Steve Hartsook from Brentwood CA, hold a couple of their good fishing day for dorado as the rain approaches behind! It got a little wet for awhile!
San Diego angler Scott Harvey brought the family down for the week and wanted to “hit the dorado hard.” He did pretty good with some of the larger dorado we’ve seen in awhile this season! Pretty colors here! Matches his shirt.
She’s 15-years-old from Colorado and has a big smile to go along with the big rooster! Haley Marino got into the fish her dad and sister catching and releasing several big roosters.
It’s hard to pose when a big dorado won’t cooperate and keep still! Andrew Harvey wanted to catch his first dorado and did that and more this week fishing with both of our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets.
YELLOWTAIL IN AUGUST? ROOSTERS AND DORADO STILL CENTER STAGE!
La Paz – Las Arenas/Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 9-16, 2015
Summer dog days. Hot and humid with fishing action pretty consistent. Some quick summer showers. Just like in previous weeks, the rooster fish are the main attraction for the Las Arenas/ Bahia de los Muertos fishermen and dorado are keeping folks busy with our La Paz fleet. It’s sunny and hot with humid clouds and tropical conditions. Might be some thundershowers coming this week with a little storm out over the Pacific causing some momentary downpours, but not much wind showing. Good thing. Everyone going home with fish who wants fish!
Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay
It’s still living up to it’s nickname as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.” Our “smallest” roosters this week were 25-30 pound fish. The largest were in the 40-50 pound class. They’re not good to eat so everyone is releasing them, but sure are having fun with these big guys close to shore almost in the surf. The ticket is getting the big sabalo (lady fish) or liso (mullet)for bait.
For other species, we had a surprise of yellowtail…yes yellowtail pop up! Yellowtail are cold water fish. We see them in the later winter and early spring. We haven’t had a yellowtail since May! The commercial guys and a few pangas hit the 25-pounders off the lighthouse late in the week. Crazy stuff. The trick was having mackerel and the fish are off the ledge holding in deeper colder water. And the mackerel were not easy to come by. But that’s been the trouble all season with the Las Arenas area. If bait were easy and around, we’d be catching all kinds of stuff in the area. As it is, all the bait has been around the La Paz area.
A few dorado and cabrilla rounded things out. Oh…and we also hooked our first wahoo in awhile too!
La Paz
If you’re not catching a limit or near limit or double limit of dorado these past few weeks, something’s wrong. Many days our pangas are coming back early with tired anglers. In all honesty, the fish are much smaller than they have been in previous years, but there’s still good action. Even after limits guys are sometimes catching another 5-10 or more fish and releasing just for fun or going after other species like billfish or inshore pargo, cabrilla or rooster fish.
The dorado have been dinky…admittedly…but this is the first week we’re seeing more 10-20 pounders or larger which is encouraging. So, the quality of the fish seems to be improving. It seems most of the summer we were stuck in the “nursery” of 5 pound fish!
Anyway, there’s marlin and sailfish for those who want to give it a try and the majority of bites are right around the areas where the small dorado are hanging out since the billfish will eat the small dorado. There’s also some big schools of huge 20 pound jack crevalle that are tearing up the anglers plus big bonito.
GOOD GUY SHOUTS
Our good friend, Paul Nagata, from San Francisco brought down two full coolers of stuff for our “Pack for a Purpose” program. Filled with sporting goods, balls, air pumps, crayons, flash cards, bags of pencils and other school supplies for the kids. Thanks, Paul!
Big smile from amigo and hunting guide, Ken Chaplin from Oregon, who finally made it down to visit us and was able to check several boxes off his bucket list including “big roosters.” It was a good week for it. Ken caught and released several.
Wade Ralston is a pro fishing guide and light tackle expert from Washington (Happy Birthday, amigo!) and he had a kick on the light rods with dorado, big fast bonito and a bunch of other species out’ve La Paz Bay.
Dave Schneider was on his first trip with us here in La Paz from San Jose CA. He’s here with Captain Victor and a big roosterfish. He caught several this week and released them all, but this one swallowed the hook and couldn’t be released. He donated the meat. Roosterfish rocked alot of anglers this week!
Big rooster for Dustin Chaplin from the Seattle WA area. Dustin came down with his dad and they got into some nice roosters this week and caught and released several nice ones like this with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
Texas in the house! Long-time amigo, Dave Hill spent the week parked on the dorado out’ve La Paz and poses with another fish while fishing with Captain Boli.
The man behind the mask is our amigo, Larry Barnard, from El Segungo CA! Larry got into the roosters this past week and shows off another fish he released.
He visits us every year! Captain John Seidensticker with our own Captain Jorge and some of the better grade dorado from Bahia de Los Muertos.
First-timer from the Bay Area, Joe Hill had a blast this week catching his first dorado fishing all week with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and Captain Boli.
ROOSTERFISH…MARLIN…DORADO IN THE FULL MOON
La Paz – Las Arenas / Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 26-Aug. 1, 2015
Fishing was steady this week, if not spectacular. Everyone got fish, even with the big blue moon full on. There were some blustery days and a bit of swell generated by a big storm far to the south, but no rain or bad weather at all. On the contrary, it was hot and humid. Waters looked good. Like I said, everyone got fish with the three main species being roosters, dorado and marlin. The good thing is that for the most part, if you were hunting for a certain species and had a day or two to pursue them, you got what you were looking for. So, the folks that wanted a marlin, got a marlin…or a rooster…or had fun with dorado! That’s all good!
LAS ARENAS
Again, this is why they call it the rooster fish capital of the world. The roosters generally, did not disappoint. The “smaller roosters” this week were in the 30 pound class. The larger ones were good-sized 50-60 pounders with larger roosters lost! Most days, if you were looking for a rooster, you got one…or two…or three! Great to check off the bucket list! The only days when the roosters were tough were the days it was windy and it was hard to get bait.
And that’s the issue. Bait is still tough to get out there. The larger baits like caballitos, mackerel and lady fish are great and most days you can get a handful to try for a rooster or marlin. But the smaller baits like the sardines are hard to come by.
So, beyond the roosters, we’re getting some OK-sized 10-15 pound dorado. Many are the 5 pound class. There’s also small roosters in Muertos Bay around 5 pounds that are a hoot on light tackle or flyrod. There’s also some smaller pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish and such along the rocks that are great eating.
LA PAZ
If you want to put fillets in the ice chest, fishing with our La Paz Fleet is best. Most days, it’s limits or near limits of dorado around the areas north of La Paz and around Espirito Santo Island. The fish are slow to get bigger. Lots of dinks unfortunately, in the 5-10 pound class, but some are getting bigger. We finally got into a few in the 20 pound class, but few and far between. This is more like May fishing than August fishing! But, in terms of just action, it’s hard to resist a school of hungry dorado slamming around the panga.
Actually, the big bonito are larger than the dorado and surely a zillion times more powerful. Lots of 10-15 pound bonito around that are just beating the heck out’ve our light tackle guys mixed in with some 25 pound jack crevalle.
I think because we have so many little dorado around, it’s also keeping the marlin around as well. Like I said earlier, if you’re looking for a marlin, this past week was a good one to get it off the bucket list. Everyone who wanted a marlin at least had a hook-up or two and all fish this week were released. Most of the marlin were stripers going 100-150 pounds. We did have two blue marlin on for awhile that might’ve gone 200 pounds before they busted off.
There’s still some decent action on pargo and cabrilla in the coves around the islands and reefs although not sure how much longer that will last with the warming waters. Guys have a kick this week on the light tackle trying to pull them outta the rocks.
I BLEW IT!
Last week, I incorrectly said this was my amigo, Larry Barnard , holding the big rooster. FAIL! It’s Matt Iacabelli from Florida who was on the boat with Larry! Apologies to both amigos! Nice fish, Matt! It’s still an awesome photo! Larry is actually pictures above!
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Shout out to Joe and Dave Hill who brought down a bunch of stuff for our kid’s charities. Thanks guys. Also, to Dave Schneider who brought down an ice chest full of stuff as well, but I didn’t have my camera with me! You guys are all great!
Making the most of just enough time to squeeze in a day of fishing, Gary Boote from New Zealand landed this hug fat roosterfish then released it. Big roosters have been great all week. e
From Washington, Kyler Whitlow got a great graduation present before heading to college next month. He came down with long-time amigo, Mike Whitlow, Kyler’s stepdad who also happens to be a pro-bass fisherman. They had a great week and we enjoyed them both!
Something to crow about! Big rooster for Larry Barnard from El Segundo CA who rocked this big rooster and did C.P.R. on it (catch…photo…release). Nicely done. He got several.
You gotta love Rebecca Jennings’ facial expression as Captain Luis hoist the biggest dorado of the week for her! The big mahi was estimated between 35-40 pounds. Rebecca visits us every year from Arkansas.
I know this is a BIG fish because Chris Barnard is a BIG GUY! Flat seas…sunshine…and big roosters! A good day. Caught and released!
This amiga can hang with the best of them! Wendy Ralston from Washington fished hard all week and out-fished many of the guys. Check out this nice mahi from La Paz.
Our “TEAM PROFESSOR.” Two of our favorites have been visiting us for years. Professor Mark Marcus now lives in Tennessee and Professor Llew Williams now calls Florida home. They got a nice rack of dorado and a pargo fishing out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos.
This is a great shot of Captain Archangel having a laugh with Mike Majors and Mike’s big roosterfish. Mike’s from Arkansas and he released this nice gallo.
Nothing like starting ’em early and these school-sized dorado are perfect for the family! John Ungaro from San Pedro CA had two days on the water and shows off some of their dorado with boys Nicholas and younger John Raul.
Don’t let the size fool you. Pargo are some of the toughest fish to nail out’ve the rocks and they get much bigger, but even tougher on light tackle and Wade Ralston from Washington is a light tackle specialist. I think he must have gotten about 10 different species all week on light tackle and is shown here with Captain Raul.
I might have to frame this photo! I don’t have many photos of popular Captain Boli giving off a good belly-laugh but he and our amigo, John Olson recently retired from a career with Disney, got into a school of small jacks and roosters and had themselves a ball.
Tough kid! Aristotle Chang from Vancouver, Canada got a 450 pound marlin last year with his dad. Nothing quite so big this year, but he had fun with dorado and big bonito.
Katie Olson with another dorado and a picture-postcard photo after a day of fishing with out Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Always good to have her and husband, John, visiting us.
I promised Alex Trasvina that I would post his photo with Mario Ayala from Chula Vista CA on this week’s report with their dorado. So…there you go, Alex! Thanks!!!
Our buddy, Alex Trasvina from San Diego (white shirt in front) always brings a fun group of guys every year, but last year they showed up just as a hurricane broke on our heads and we all had to come back and cancel all the fishing. But this year…all went smooth so we toasted a bunch of beer in the Tailhunter store!
Shout outs to Mike and Diane Shyrock from Washington who came down with a bunch of great stuff for the kids and Jill’s “Pack for a Purpose” program. Thanks to you both for the big hearts!
I’ve known Ken Chaplin from Oregon for many years as Ken is a S. African hunting outfitter. He got to finally bring his son, Dustin, down to get some fishing in but packed a few ice chests with clothes, school supplies and sporting goods for the kids! Wow!
BIG ROOSTERS and DORADO BEND RODS!
La Paz – Las Arenas (Muertos Bay) Fishing Report for Week of July 19-26, 2015
Another “go figure” week as fish defied general logic, but at least were co-operative. The week also saw us watching another storm come and go (Leticia) that gave us a few rain showers and some wind, but that was it. Everyone caught fish. Everyone who wanted to bring home fish brought home fish. Maybe not the species they wanted or the size they wanted, but everyone pretty much having fun and leaving with smiles and good memories…so all-in-all-a good week! Just wish the weather would make put it’s mind! One day blazing sunshine. Next day clouds. Like I said, “Go figure.”
LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS BAY
Bait continues to be a problem. Quite honestly, unless you’re chasing billfish or bonito and maybe a few dorado, there’s not much else going on. Of course, this could change any day! That’s just the way it is here.
But…as we say here “Gracias a Dios!” (thank God!)…the rooster fish are here. Man, the rooster fish have saved more than one fishing day or frankly, they have made an entire trip. Our “smallest roosters” this week were 35 pounders. Our larger ones were ticking the 70-pound range. Lifetime trophy fish! They are big and they are mean and most are getting released too. Anything that can chow-down a 12-18 inch ladyfish as bait has GOT TO BE BIG! There’s a reason they call this “Roosterfish Alley” and “Roosterfish Capital of the World.”
LA PAZ
Dorado are leading the charge. Limits or near limits for most of our fishermen most days. Some days coming back early. But good steady action. Dorado seem to be getting bigger each week. Fewer sinks and better 10-15 pounders (still small by our standards) but some larger 20-30 pounders getting hooked and occasionally brought in. Billfish also around as well. Inshore, some decent pargo and cabrilla fishing still available as well for those with the patience and hand-eye coordination to pull them outta the rocks!
Show -and-tell! When 15-year-old, Brett Vitale from San Diego goes back to school, he might have at least one pretty good story to tell! With Captain Gerardo, he tore it up with this big time roosterfish that he caught and released! Same day, his brother caught a 180 pound blue marlin.
Flyrod grins for Randy Skedgel , who has citrus farms in Central California. Randy had a great week on the flyrod with dorado, roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo, and even a wahoo.
San Luis Obispo in the house with 3 big dorado days for Bill White and Mark Davis holding up a pair of young bull dorado!
Two of our long-time best amigos, Barry Wood and Mike Kelly, from Orange Co. California with some great eats! Barry is holding a prized pargo mulatto (barred pargo) and Mike is holding a bull dorado. Thanks to them as well for bringing a bunch of stuff for the kids and also some chocolate for Jill!!!
Andrea Reynolds from San Luis Obispo came for a week of diving with us, but took a few days for fishing and had a big smile with Captain Rogelio and another dorado in the boat.
Fire Captain Dave Castanon from La Verne CA has been fishing with us from the beginning! It’s always great to see him and his family. Dave has his fingers in the gills for a couple of nice dorado.
Good week for marlin. Jose Lopez and his dad, Sal, hold up a striper they took off Las Arenas on a bait. The fish was not able to be released and they donated good chunks of meat.
First timer, Dane Mrazek from the Sacrament CA area had himself a crazy week with limits or dorado every single day for 5 days! He’s got a nice pair here posing on the beach at Balandra!
HURRICANE DOLORES MISSES – BUT AFFECTS SOME OF THE FISHING! (BUT NOT ALL!)
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-19, 2015
No doubt about it, an odd-sort of week for fishing. Much of the week was spent watching the weather websites and satellite images wondering how Hurricane Dolores was going to unfold. Or not.
You just never can tell. Early on, it looked ominous as the storm developed and made it’s way north gathering power. We cringed a bit as this was one of our busiest weeks with a full house of fishermen, divers and families. Early predictions has as much as 4 days of rain coming down on us. Sure we need the rain, but we surely don’t need it in hurricane force and surely not ruining vacations. So, there was alot of trepidation and anxiety about it.
However, as the week went on, Dolores veered out and north. Thankfully. I’m sure up the Pacific Coast, surfers were ecstatic.
For us, it was a mixed bag. We ended up with a few windy and bumpy days, especially for our Las Arenas anglers and then we had about 30 minutes of hard rain followed by some intermittent showers on Friday. And that was it. More or less. Still beats a full-fledged hurricane!
LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Really poor fishing this past week. I think the epic historic wahoo bite of 2015 is officially dead and gone. It’s been an incredible two months. There’s still a few fish out there, but we only hooked one this week. Bait has been an issue. Once again, like last week, there’s big fish…or there’s nothing. That meant some good action on marlin…blues…blacks and sailfish. Or big rooster fish. And that was pretty much it. The rest of the catch was triggerfish and bonito and an occasional dorado.
By the latter part of the week, wind and waves generated by Hurricane Dolores to the south made it pretty rugged to fish. It as pretty ugly. That didn’t help much. Which is also why it’s a good thing we have two fleets…so we can move folks around to where conditions and fishing are better.
LA PAZ
There were a few rough days as Hurricane Dolores got closer, but for the most part, other than some bump and a little rain for less than an hour, this is where all the action was happening. The nice thing about us having our two fleets is that when one side isn’t happening like the way Las Arenas was scratchy this week, we were able to move lots of our clients to our La Paz fleet and get into some good action.
Truthfully, still ALOT of smaller dorado…under 10 pounds. But crazy good action mostly! Some days catch and release as fast as you could go. A few days some of the boats were back before lunch with limits of dorado and having released another limit or two. Great light tackle stuff. Also, some of the larger dorado started to mix in with some 15-30 pound bulls getting hooked. Fishing got better as the week went on. Additionally, a few striped marlin and sails hooked every day as well as blue and hammerhead sharks plus a blue marlin as well. Pargo, triggers, cabrilla and rooster fish inshore to give some variety.
NOTE:
Just a head’s up…no hurricanes on the radar, but early predictions are showing maybe some thundershowers mid-week!
GOOD GUY SHOUT OUTS!
Our “Pack for a Purpose” program keeps rolling along and has been such a success now for almost 2 years. Another big shout-out on behalf of the Battered Women’s Shelter and the FANLAP orphanages to our generous amigos who filled up their empty coolers on the way down and brought much-needed things for Jill’s charities. Hugs to all of you!
Enough to start a school! Rebecca Jennings (Arkansas), Wade and Wendy Ralston (WA), our own Jilly, Mike and Kyler Whitlow (WA) and Mike Majors (Arkansas) standing with bags and bags of donations for the kids!
Just retired from a zillion years working for Disney all over the world, John and Katie Olson paid to have a huge box of toys and other incredible goods shipped down with them to donate to Pack for a Purpose!
Two of our best! Mike Kelly and Barry Wood, flank Jilly with a table load of school supplies they packed down as donations!
Big hearts from Oregon standing with Jilly…Gary, Bob, Jo and Phil always come visit us and we’re grateful!
Cheers! Two professors in the house! Mark Marcus (Tennessee) and Llew Williams (Florida) are retired college professors and long-time friends. Balls…hats…schools supplies and toys for the kids! Always great to seen them!
Amiga from Colorado, Dolores Ehlers has been coming to see us in La Paz for years and finally got to cross off a roosterfish from her bucket list. She got this beauty with Captain Pancho and lost an even larger one before this! Big rooster was released. See the video of the catch below.
Tyler Vitale (without his shirt) had quite a day. From Escondido CA the eighteen-year-old was just about at the end of his fishing day at Bahia de Los Muertos with brother Brett and dad, Todd, along with Captain Rogelio when he got tagged with this nice blue marlin estimated at 160 pounds! On 60 pound test, he fought the fish for 2 hours! They also caught and released two roosterfish as well.
This is just spectacular! Randy Skedgel had an off-the-chart week on the flyrood taking 17 different species of fishing on the flyrod including dorado, roosterfish and on the last day…A WAHOO! Hard enough to do it on conventional tackle, but he knocked it down with a flyrod right off Punta Perrico!
Tom Warbington has fished all over the world. He’s from Georgia and had two fish on his bucket list. One was a roosterfish…we got two of them. Then, he really wanted a striped marlin. He had already caught a blue and a black. So, we sent him off with Captain Chito. Well…he didn’t get a marlin. HE GOT THREE! He released two nice striped marlin and kept this estimated 225 pounder.
Oregon in the house. First day…first fish! Nicely done . John Titman holds up one of the few wahoo we got this week. Over several days of fishing, John got 10 different species of fish.
A really unsual catch! Good amigo, from Temple City CA, Norm Fulco fishes with us 1-2 times a year for many years and on light tackle with Captain Pancho got this very unusual white marlin. Only the 2nd time in all my years here that I’ve seen one. Great eating.
You never forget that first one! Danny Morales had never been to Mexico, let alone go fishing, but he gets a thumbs up for his first ever dorado. The first of a number of fish he caught that day.
Another of our guys who wanted to target a marlin, Devon Boatman with Captain Raul caught and released a lively striper fishing out’ve La Paz near Espirito Santo Island. Great photo.
Nothing wrong with this catch! John Ehleres with some HUGE triggerfish he brought back to the Taiilhunter Restaurant and had us whip it into a huge plate of ceviche that he shared with Captain Pancho the next day.
We were definitely seeing some better dorado action this week and some better fish like this one taken outside La Paz Bay by Marcelo Llerena. They got a nice limit.
Another one on the flyrod for Randy Skedgel who has a huge citrus ranch in central California. Check out the size of the fish and how close to shore he caught it!
HUGE 30+ pound jack crevalle for our long-time friends from Santa Barbara Bob and Sergio off La Paz Bay. Tough fighter. Good amigos!
WINDY RUGGED SCRATCHY FISHING BUT MORE DORADO SHOW…FINALLY!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 5-12 2015
It wasn’t an easy week of fishing these past few days. Morning winds generated by some storms to the south and rain to the north put is in the middle of some blustery weather, especially in the mornings. This made for some over-turned greener waters and a tough time getting bait some days. But, even when we had bait, the fish seemed lock-jawed, but the fish were there, but some times just we not eating. Crazy because last week we had the full moon, the fish were on the chew much better. There’s a couple of storms to the south that we’re keeping an eye on to see if they’re developing into something.
LAS ARENAS
Once again, big fish or nothing. And there’s fewer bigger fish than smaller fish. So, you got a shot at a big one…or you didn’t. If you lost your fish, well, that might be it for the day. It was a struggle all week.
The epic wahoo bite of 2015 seems to have tapered off. There’s still wahoo in the area, but nothing like we had seen. They were hit or miss. We got a few. Lost a few. A few weeks ago, every panga was hooked 1-3 or more wahoo per day! This week, we only got a handful.
There were a few marlin hooked and lost and inshore small cabrilla and pargo. We get a nice blue at the end of the week (See Tyler’s fish above) and a rare white marlin (See Norm’s photo above). We keep hearing there some breezing tuna outside by the commercial guys, but the fish are fast-movers and don’t stick around long enough to get on them.
The best thing we had going were the rooster fish. That’s why they call this “Roosterfish Alley” and the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.” We didn’t get many but the ones we got were the larger 40-60 pound models. And some small schoolie fish as well.
There were a few more dorado around which says alot since we’ve had almost zero dorado out’ve the area all year, but most of the fish are punky 5-10 pound schoolies, but one day they are there and the next they are gone. Should get better.
LA PAZ
This is where our better action has been. The dorado schools are keeping the rods bent, but this past week was still scratchier than normal. Strong morning winds that didn’t slack off until late morning or early afternoon, didn’t help at all. So, if the bite happened, it was a late bite. The guys really had to work at it and our captains chased and moved constantly looking for the bite. If you found it, hours of boredom were suddenly topped by frantic minutes of madness when the whole school attacked. Some larger fish this week with 15-25 pounders around, but still lots of smaller fish. Hopefully, the bite will get stronger next week because this past week was off it’s game. It did seem that late in the week, the dorado got more cooperative with more limits of fish.
Inshore, some good spots of cabrilla, pargo and snapper still about and there were a few days when the marlin went nuts and almost every boat had at least one hook up!
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Jilly with Mike “Sir Boy” Kelly and Barry Wood from Orange Co. CA who brought two huge ice chest full of school supplies for the kids!
Sam and his wife, Kelly Sybesma are both teachers and came down with a big laod of schools supplies and hygiene products. Jill has a big smile with Sam. Thanks to you both!
Since last year, Jill’s program that she instituded called “Pack for a Purpose” whereby angler fill their empty ice chests with things for charity has produced hundreds of pounds of things for the needy especially for the two orphanages and the Women’s Shelter we support. Every week, our anglers with big hearts keep us mindful of our blessings with so many great things for the foundations! Thanks to all!
WHOAAA! LAST MINUTE! Just when I was about to write off the awesome wahoo bite of the last 2 months as “over and done,” today Sunday, our guys found the wahoo again! Chris Settevendemie from Paso Robles CA and Captain Archangel might have had some special “help.” He was here at Bahia de los Muertos to spread dad’s ashes. Dad musta been riding along. Chris ripped 3 wahoo today!
On his first visit here last year, Rusty Cain got caught in the middle of Hurricane Odile last September! He’s back and nailed this gorgeous wahoo today with his wife Caroline just when I thought there were no more wahoo! Great catch just before I put this report to press!
Great roosterfish week and no one had a better one that Alecia and Bennett Clegg from Sacramento CA. In 3 days, they hooked and released 7 up to forty pounds and also lost another 7. Plus they got other fish too! (See below). They were having so much fun, the extended their vacation another 3 nights! Here’s Alecia with another big rooster and Captain Victor smiles on!
Retired U.S. Army Sgt. and educator, Tom Rautert from Tucson AZ started his week out right with two of these big roosterfish off Cerralvo Island that tuckered him out a bit more than expected (in a good way!). That’s Cerralvo Island behind him. All fish were released!
Despite the full moon, the marlin went pretty crazy this week. Most of the were released when possible. But, in some cases, they were so voracious they charged whatever baits were in the water or whatever lures were out there and fought each other to get at the offering…which also meant they were swallowing hooks and it made it harder to release. First timer from Utah, Dave Gasser had a great week including his first-time striper with Captain Armando!
An armload of forty + pound amberjack for Scott Hillier who took this fatty outside of Bahia de Los Muertos with Captain Adolfo driving the boat.
As mentioned above, it was a crazy week with marlin going voracious on the full moon! Diego and Kelly Jimenez from Loveland CO, had a double hookup simultaneously when trying to troll for wahoo! Both lines screaming in opposite directions! They got both to the boat, but both fish had swallowed the Rapalas with their treble hooks making release impossible. They donated the meat. With Captain Jorge.
In addition to a banner week on roosterfish, Bennett Clegg also put a striper in the boat that couldn’t be released. That’s pretty touch to hold up a marlin like that!
Not many wahoo this week, but Brent Hillier managed to get one landed! Nice fish for our amigo from Colorado!
Just a beautiful photo of another rooster before it gets unhooked and released. Pretty water. Pretty fish! Thanks for the shot, Bennett!
Beast mode! Another big rooster for Bennett…he got seven of them all released! Check out the flat waters!
Yes, dorado have been biting, but hardly any for our Las Arenas boats. All the dorado have been school-sized fish with our La Paz fleet! Alecia holds up a pretty one. They got near limits.
Big shout out gracias to so many of our folks who keep bringing in supplies for our “Pack for a Purpose” program that Jill initiated whereby empty bags and ice chests are brought down but filled with stuff for the kids and families in need at shelters and orphanages. Diego and Kelly Jimenez brought down a bunch of school supplies and also a gorgeous mermaid painting for Jill and I. Big hearts!
Sgt. Tom Rautert (ret.) always does it right. He stuff a suitcase full of kids stuff for our “Pack for a Purpose” program and our veteran poses with Jilly at Tailhunters! Thanks, Tom!
FULL MOON BUT ROOSTERFISH AND MARLIN REALLY LIGHT IT UP!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 27-July 4, 2015
Depending on what you were fishing for and whether you were fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas or our La Paz fleet, it was a pretty good week of fishing. Summer is definitely here with hot sunny skies and warm blue waters. Summer vacation has started for the La Paz school kids so it’s a pretty festive time to be here because everyone is out right now! And we also had a full moon that some think adversely affects the fishing. Not this week!
LAS ARENAS
Usually, Las Arenas is where we send our clients to catch variety…get bent…have a little fun close to shore. Everyone catches fish. It’s a good area to start fishing on a fishing vacation. There’s alot of species and lots of live bait to play with. After fishing here and having some fun and putting some fish in the ice chests, then we go fish with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and look for bigger fish!
Well, this year, it seems just the opposite.
All the larger fish are at Las Arenas. And there are no “small fish.” Because it’s mostly the larger fish, there are fewer fish. You get one or two shots at at trophy and that might be it for the day. Or one boat might have all the luck on a given day while the boat next to it might get some needlefish, triggers and a bonito. You hit home runs or you strike out.
And that’s how it’s been.
But, the trophies are NICE!
This week the marlin woke up! For many of our folks they got their first shots at billfish and there were several days where each of our pangas hooked at least one marlin. Quite a few lost, but many others were caught and released. The problem is that it’s like the marlin woke up from a Rip Van Winkle Sleep! They are voracious! Guys have told me the marlin were everywhere and swimming around the pangas. They are actually trying to get away from them. The fish are charging just about any bait or lure in the water without hesitation and even fighting each other to get to a bait or lure. The problem with that is they we found the fish are literally swallowing everything WHOLE! That makes it tough to release when hooks and lures are so deep! One of our guys even told me that his hat blew into the water and as it blew away a marlin swirled on it!
Likewise, the rooster fish have been on fire! Not uncommon to hit 2, 3, 4 or 5 roosters in the 20-50 pound class each day with all fish being released. It seems the full moon turned them on also. Around Punta Arenas and on the south eastern side of Cerralvo there are some hot spots. There’s also some wahoo still around and we’ve taken a few fat amberjack and pargo too. However, I think our incredible epic wahoo bite that we enjoyed the last two months may have finally run it’s course! It had to end sometime…darnit! The past week or so only a smidgen of wahoo even biting.
HOLD EVERYTHING...just as I’m putting the finishing touches on my Sunday night fishing report, our Las Arenas boats come in from the day…AND THEY HAVE WAHOO! One panga had THREE (See above photos). One had another wahoo and another lost a wahoo. So, maybe all is not lost! WAHOO!
LA PAZ
Normally, this is the “big fish area” as mentioned above. However, the last few weeks, this has turned into the “action zone.” Dorado have finally come around nicely. Lots of little fish, but some larger 15-20 pounders now showing up and not unusual to get limits or near limits daily. Marlin and sails are in the same areas as the dorado since they are eating the smaller dorado plus quite a few sharks hooked as well. Inshore, cabrilla and pargo and big snapper as well as rooster fish have made for some nice variety.
Spencer Sawaske started his fishing week out on a high note right off the bat with Captain Jorge by sticking this nice wahoo.
Captain Mike Gravert who runs Intimidator Sportfishing on the Sacramento Delta knows how to put fish in the boat and this pig of a pargo liso got yanked ou’tve the rocks…a pretty awesome feat…by Mike near Bahia de Los Muertos!
Our amiga, Michele Conklin from Spokane WA with her first big catch-and-release rooster. Here with Captain Jorge.
First-timer, Cullen Hennessey with dad, Brian, put the hurt on this big-time amberjack that went about 45 pounds. Captain Pancho poses up!
The man they call, “Ranchero.” Rich Sawaske with a tasty tough barred pargo he pulled from the rocks near Espirito Santo Island.
Dave Conklin tried to “lend a hand” with his wife, Michele’s big wahoo while Captain Jorge shows how to do it correctly.
Great amigo, Craig Corda, is always smiling especially when he’s holding a big fish like this fat rooster caught and released near Bahia de los Muertos.
Utah in the house! First timer, Lorna Gasser with Captain Armando and two dorado to start the trip!
Headed for the dinner plate! Two great eating rockfish…a dog-tooth snapper and barred pargo for Randy Forrestiere.
Kudos again to Bill Jubb for the big heart. At our recent Western Outdoor News/ Tailhunter Sportfishing Panga Slam event and tournament, Bill won $600. He turned around and paid for everyone’s dinners at the last night dinner, but also donated the bulk of the money to our FANLAP scholarship fund with enough money to send two kids to high school. As a result several other participants also donated additional funds raising enough to send 3 kids to school who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance. We’re grateful and blessed. Thanks, Bill. Thanks, Malina, Dave, Michele and Dave!
ROOSTERFISH and MORE DORADO HIGHLIGHT STRANGE FISHING WEEK
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 21-28, 2015
Weather-wise, it’s been one of the best and hottest weeks of the year as we roll into summer. We had one day hit 114, but most days are about mid-90’s and blazingly sunny. School is finally out for all the local kids. More families showing up here to vacation.
Fishing success has been difficult to track however. Personally, it seem more like late May fishing if you look at the our daily fishing reports. Still alot of variety. Still getting some cooler-water fish. Warm water fish just seem to be getting up to speed, but not quite. Basically, however, there’s a big difference between fishing Las Arenas and La Paz.
LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Usually, this time of year is where we see the most variety of fish. Not so this year. At least, not so far. Right now, I’ve been telling our anglers, it’s BIG OR GO HOME! This is home run territory. Other than some smaller bonito or rockfish, it’s either big rooster fish, wahoo, or billfish. If you get a shot and miss it, you get skunked. That’s it. Go home with a good story. And alot of our anglers miss fish or they bust off. It’s fishing. That’s why these are bigger fish. However, if you land one of these guys, then you’re the hero.
This past week, most of our roosters were 20-50 pound fish. Nice trophies. Nothing to bring home to eat, but a trophy photo and catch-and-release just the same. Some of our anglers landed 1-5 of these fish some days.
The wahoo…a bit more anemic this week. Is this the end? We’ve had one of the most dynamic wahoo bites in memory the past 4 or 5 weeks. Epic. We have caught more wahoo in recent weeks than the last 10 years COMBINED! But this past week, there were only a few hooked and even fewer landed. Chalk it up to angler error…hard-fighting fish…changing conditions? I don’t know. But, it’s been great and I hope it’s not done.
Marlin seem like they’re waking up. We got a few. Most released. Most about 100 pounds.
Late Saturday, tuna between 30-70 pounds were landed by commercial guys at the south end of Cerralvo Island. We’re exploring that as I write this report.
Again, nothing small. Anglers are either totally blown away when they land one of these fish or they come back disappointed. It’s the nature of fishing and at Las Arenas right now, you get 1 or two shots. If you miss it, that’s it.
LA PAZ
Fortunately, we have two fleets! Just for this reason so we can move our clients back and forth depending on conditions and the bite. Luckily, most of our clients are here for a few days so they have the ability to fish with both of our fleets!
Our La Paz action has been well…just that…ACTION!
Dorado have been more active and there’s schools of smaller to medium sized dorado now showing up. Limits or near limits of these smaller fish are not uncommon and we’re just waiting for some of the larger fish to show up. We did get a few in the 20-30 pound range and larger fish lost.
Also, inshore, even this late in the season, pargo and cabrilla in the rocks and reefs have provided plenty of fun, action and frustration as the bigger ones bust folks off in the rocks. But, this can be hours of fun. Here’s what Richard “Ranchero” Sawaske said about it:
“(Captain)Raul, Randy (Forrestiere) & I worked a stretch of Espiritu Santo on Fri. for pargo. If it wasn’t epic it was pretty damn close! I’m a Pargo Guy & we got em all…Dogtooth, Liso & Barred! Not huge, but they don’t have to be! We put a dozen or more in the boat, got our asses handed to us by at least that many more & after 4 hours of intense action..well, we were Zing Pow-ied!! It was great! We were Gassed!”
For larger species…Billfish and sharks also providing action with both species being released or lost.
One of our frequent amigos, Dave Lindell, from Pendleton OR with Pat McDonell from Western Outdoor News and Dave’s big wahoo…his first. This might have been the largest fish of the 3 day event. Dave had several others hooked up as well.
Some other great fun amigos and always a blast to be around Dave and Michele (“with one “L” ) Conklin who also had some big fish and out of everyone might have also caught the most fish of any team in the Panga Slam event with the number of hookups they had each day. They’re from Spokane WA.
Love this shot of good friends, Cathy and Craig Corda with Craig mugging from the panga as Cathy holds their big wahoo!
First timer, but hopefully not the last time, Paul Csenar from Newport Beach is another of our amigos that got his first wahoo this week…in fact, he got TWO! He also got his first marlin this week as well.
On fire! Michele Conklin with the largest dorado of the week with husband Dave and a nice cabrilla. They had more hookups than anyone else and a great variety of fish!
Big smiles from Ron Lawver, Sr. from Washington and Captain Victor with a trophy roosterfish in flat waters near Las Arenas. The fish was released.
What the heck? It’s June! Phil Okamoto got this yellowtail off Espirito Santo Island. No one could believe it until we saw the photos and the fillets. Most yellowtail run from February to Apil when the waters are cold. Waters are almost 80 degrees right now!
Right there in Bahia de Los Muertos, there’s some nice schools of roosterfish like this one caught by Catlyn Wagner right near where we launch the boats. Her dad is good amigo, Gary Wagner, who owns the famous Giggling Marlin Restaurant in Cabo San Lucas. The fish was released.
Candid photos like this one with our Captain Rogelio and Orhan Gurbuz with his big cabrilla are gems!
Boy did I goof!!! I’m really meticulous about photos on these fishing reports that I’ve done now for almost 20 years. But, I forgot this photo from two weeks ago of our own Uncle Johnny Enright and his wife Nancy! OMG!!! Sorry, Johnny and Nancy! I owe you some big time drinks at Tailhunters next time!!!
Kansas in the house! Marion Lawver with another fine roosterfish off Bahia de Los Muertos in flat calm waters! Fish was released.
Surprise catch for Phil Okamoto and Kristine McGrath. While fishing Espirito Santo Island with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, they got a double hook up on two big sharks that they thought were makos, but turned out to be blacktips. One eventually busted off but the other took a two hour fight. It yielded some beautiful white tasty meat. Phil stuck his camera underwater to take some shots and turns out…there were as many as SIX other sharks under the boat!
FISHING STILL TRYING TO MAKE A COMEBACK AFTER STORMS
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 14-21, 2015
Happy Father’s Day Everyone to you and your families and all dad’s everywhere!
The week started off with all of us watching with a bit of trepidation as Hurricane Carlos was building far to the south of us. Just what we need! But, like many others, Carlos petered out long before it ever touched Baja and went inland leaving us with a great week of nothing but warm blue Baja skies…temperatures in the low 90’s…and water that seems to keep growing prettier the further we get away from the last storm, Blanca, two weeks ago.
Blanca put the hammer on what had been an increasingly good fishing season. So, now that it’s passed, it seems with each passing day and the further we get on the calendar away from Blanca, the better the water gets and hence the better the fishing seems to be as well. Although, Storm Carlos did send some wind and big waves our way!
Overall, a pretty decent week of fishing. It’s been better, but this week was not all that terrible by any stretch! It just could have been even better as things try to right themselves and get on an even keel.
LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS
As mentioned above, with each day away from the storm, things get better. Prior to the storm, we had an epic wahoo bite…probably the best I’ve seen here in the 20 years I’ve been working down here. So, anytime something like a weather-related event comes along, I get worried.
Well, the wahoo sure seem to be back. As one of my guys told me, “There were free-swimming wahoo all over the place!” Never seen anything like it. The fish are sticking around for some crazy reason and surely no one is complaining.
The fish are 20-50 pounds and eating bait as well as lures like dark-colored Rapalas. Rapalas, especially purple and dark-colored black/ white or grey combinations have been hot. Bring some down if you can. Especially the Rapala CD-18 or even better, the Rapala X-Rap 15 of Rapala XRap 30. The stores here in town keep selling out even with the price tags of almost 40 dollars for them. Worse is that many anglers are losing their fish so if the lure belonged to a captain…adios…there goes $40 bucks!
If you have time, take the treble hooks off of the lures and replace them with single hooks!
But, the truth is that these are home-run fish. Big or go home! For every fish we put in the panga, 2-4 fish are lost! Or, worse, many times, one of our pangas come in and the anglers have long faces. They got nothing, but tell me they lost 3, 4 or 5 fish! These fish are fast and hard chargers and they have sharp teeth and a hard jawbone so you really have to stick that hook hard when they bite.
For other fish, the other news is that it seems the marlin really woke up…finally! Quite a few marlin getting hooked up. Mostly stripers and blues with stripers going 90-120 pounds and blues up to 300. Every day this week several were hooked up and fortunately, most fish are getting released.
Additionally, rooster fish were back nicely in the counts. Most fish were 15-30 pounds, but there’s a school of 2-10 pounders right in Bahia de Los Muertos and if you just wanted to stay in the bay and catch-and-realease small roosters all day, it’s not out of the question.
Not many dorado showing up which is a surprise! Again, the conditions are the dispositive factor. Late in the week we had big waves and winds that were residual effects of Hurricane Carlos way to the south of us. Although the sun kept blazing and we didn’t get any storm conditions, the storm did send up waves and wind which then affected the fishing negatively.
LA PAZ
Good bit of variety for our Tailhunter anglers fishing with our La Paz fleet. More dorado showing up in the counts although, not alot of big fish just yet. Most fish are schoolie-sized 5-15 pounders with the occasional 20 pound mahi in the box. I expect this is just the opening round and the mahi fishing will get better. Lots of and lots of little fish around and sure, you could put a big dent in your ice chest fishing some of the trout-sized dorado, but what’s the fun in that? Hopefully, bigger and tougher guys will arrive as we move into summer.
For other species, our pangas are still finding some great marks of pargo mulatto and yellow snapper as well as some hefty trophy-cabrilla.
As well, we are also seeing more anxious billfish like sails and marlin and rooster fish in some of the coves up to 50 pounds.
2015 TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL / WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS PANGA SLAM
(L-R) Cathy Conklin, Dave Lindell, Dave Lindell, Malina Lindell, Paul Csenar, Dave Conklin (kneeling), Michele Conklin (pink bikini), Craig Braswell, Jonathan Roldan (kneeling), Jilly Roldan (kneeling), Dave Frausto, Pat McDonell, Tom Robinson, Bill Jubb
It was one of our smaller groups in the 16 years we have held the event, but perhaps one of the funnest groups we’ve had here in my memory. The fishing could have been better. We’ve had better outings. But it’s hard to have had a better bunch. Or a more gratifying result. Please read to the end and find out the surprise ending!
Day 1 we fished Las Arenas and got into some nice wahoo and marlin. For some it was their firsts of those species. We didn’t have a scale to the beach, but biggest fish was probably Dave Lindell’s wahoo (Pendleton OR) or Dave Conklin’s wahoo (Spokane WA) . Tom Robinson from Orange Co. took his first marlin after a bruising 2 hour fight on a little Avet reel and released it to fight another day. That night we went with the group to Costa Restaurant at the marina for some great seafood and live dance music.
Our favorite alfalfa farmer, Craig Corda, holds up a wahoo from the first day.
Day 2 – We moved over to fish La Paz side and there were some school-sized dorado and rockies taken. Michele (“Michele with one “L”) Conklin had the biggest dorado of the day and their boat also had the most hook-ups. That night was taco party night at Tailhunters for the big feed.
Two wahoo and a jack crevalle among other fish that day plus two other wahoo lost for Michele and Dave Conklin.
Day 3– No fishing! Party day! We joined up with Fun Baja and took the whole gang out to Espirito Santo Island for a day of snorkeling and scuba diving with the sealions and then to the island itself for a catered lunch, mass consumption of icy cold beer and some paddleboarding and kayaking. It was a spectacular day! The problem was we spend the WHOLE DAY out there having way too much fun and by the time we got back, everyone just wanted to kick it and take it easy so everyone was on their own for dinner and pretty much hung out at La Concha pool
Beach gals…Cathy Corda and our own Jilly Roldan!
In the most heroic act of the week, when one of the boat engines got a glitch and couldn’t make to closer to the beach, Pat McDonell and Dave Conklin swam the ice chest with 4 cases of icy beer to the beach about 200 yards away . Give give give!
Yes, go THAT way , David! The girls are waiting for you to bring the beer out to them!
Day 4 – Actual tournament day for the money! The other days were just warm-ups! $600 jackpot on the line. Everyone went charging! Unfortunately, so did the winds and waves which were ripping for the earlier part of the day. Fishing was scratchy at best for a handful of small dorado although Paul Csenar got his first marlin. Big fish turned out to be an 11.7 pounds skipjack caught by Bill Jubb! That was it. But again, with a giant cooler of beer on the beach and another with ice-cold watermelon slices, it turned into another beach party!
Pat McDonell assumes the position in front of some of the pangas or our La Paz fleet parked at Balandra Bay.
Craig Corda…living the dream! Too bad the waters are 80 degrees. Beer 33 degrees.
Dinner that night at Tailhunters for our all-you-can-eat Hawaiian Rib Dinner! Oh man…talk about sticky fingers and smackin’ lips!
Western Outdoor News Executive Editor Pat McDonell who is the best MC in the world…did our closing and passed out more swag to everyone. But then he awarded the $600 jackpot money to Bill Jubb…
And here’s the awesomeness:
Bil Jubb took all the money and he told everyone he was covering the drink tab. Then, he donated the rest of the winnings to FANLAP, which is one of our favorite charities here in La Paz! The balance of that amount of more than $400 is enough for two high school scholarships to pay for the expenses of two high school students for a year. (Here in Mexico, mandatory public school is only given until 9th grade…after that, the individual must fund further education themselves!). What an incredible ending which drew much applause and high-fives! Thanks to Bill for doing that.
But, that wasn’t all…upon departure, Dave and Malina Lindell (from Pendleton, OR) two of our frequent amigos here to Tailhunters left us another donation with enough to fund possibly another two scholarships! We are speechless and grateful beyond words. Blessed!
THANK YOU EVERYONE! THANK YOU WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS and PAT MCDONELL. THANK YOU FUN BAJA. THANK YOU JILLY ROLDAN and our TAILHUNTER CAPTAINS, STAFF and RESTAURANT FAMILY and a special SHOUT OUT THANK YOU TO BILL JUBB and DAVE and MALINA LINDELL for making a difference in some young lives!
What a monster pig of a fish! In all my years have never seen a wahoo THIS FAT!!!! Tim McCrink with a huge wahoo caught on a rapala with Captain Mundo out’ve Muertos Bay yesterday. The fish is curved…it’s over 6 feet long! Estimates from captains and clients alike who were on the beach put the fish at anywhere fro 70-100 pounds.
Another fatty wahoo! Carl Herrmann on the right with Captain Pancho and long time amigo, Bruce Dodge from the Glendale CA area.
Captain Armando put Ed Bird from Sacramento onto this good wahoo. Rich Keogh helps hold up the head! Great amigos and always good to see them down here!
Marrion Lawver and Uncle Ron Sr. with Ron’s marlin. Marrion is from Kansas and Ron hails from Washington on his first trip. The marlin was not able to be released.
Some good roosterfish action this week. From Oregon, Denny King, loves the light tackle. On his first trip, he did close to 12 different species of fish in 3 days. Rooster was released.
Captain Pancho with one of the funniest guys to be around. Jude “Big Boy” Martinez has himself a whopper-size pompano. They brought it over to Tailhunter Restaurant for tacos!
This is an amazing guy! Jake Van Hemelryck from Eagle Idaho was down for two weeks at the Se Habla La Paz Spanish Language immersion school knocking out some extra college credits towards his teaching degree. He had weekends off so he went fishing with Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. No problem! He caught roosterfish, dorado, pargo, cabrilla and other species. Jake is pretty inspiring. He holds powerlifting and swimming records and swam for the U.S. Paralympic team. The fish didn’t have a chance.
Marlin were alot more active this week and alot of amigos had shots at them. Terry Biggs had this one going for a bit and sent me the photos. This one got away but great shots!
Mitch Embry dialed one in finally after 4 days of fishing and stepped up with this nice wahoo. Pictured here with Captain Armando and Ed Bird.
Terry Biggs with a barred pargo and Rich Keogh with an ojoton jack. Both great eating. (the fish not the guys!). The guys are from Sacramento! Captain Adolfo with them.
Some video of the winds and waves behind La Concha Beach Resort Hotel during Blanca. Winds were running about 50 mph. Turn up your sound!
FISHING STRUGGLES TO COME BACK AFTER STORM BLANCA
La Paz – Las Arenas / Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 7-14, 2015
Well, we “survived” Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Blanca. I say “survived” because it was almost a non-event. I don’t want to scoff at the weather as it needs to be respected, but I think everyone in S. Baja was a bit nervous when Blanca appeared on the radar. Winds over 100 mph and 10-16 inches of rain were predicted and many folks in the state have yet to fully recover the devastating effects of “Odile” last September that tore the state apart.
In that regard, folks could be seen boarding up windows; hauling out their boats; stocked up on water and batteries, etc. Even us at Tailhunters, dismantled our restaurant and set up sand bags. Then, for 4 days, we watched and waited. And waited. And communally huddled before our computers and smart phones watching every bit of social media as the ominous storm approached.
Then…nothing really happened. Some big waves. A bit or strong rain (in some cases only minutes). And strong winds. And that was it in most of Southern Baja. Further north of La Paz, they got some heavier rains, but nothing biblical. In La Paz, there was some debris. Lots of dust. No flooding. For us we lost a day or two of fishing. And that was only because the port captain prevented boats from leaving the bay. For the most part, seas stayed flat and we could have fished. But, I understand the precaution.
When we did get back on the water, early in the week, it was with some trepidation. Fishing at Las Arenas had been pretty darned good . The wahoo bite had been off-the-charts. For La Paz, we just started to finally get into some nicer dorado.
Well, when we got back in the water after the storm, it wasn’t totally expected. Waters were green and cloudy. Water temperatures had plummeted 8-10 degrees from 80 to the low 70’s.
Fish were around. Our anglers saw them. But, they didn’t want to eat!
It took a few days, but with each passing day post storm Blanca, the waters cleaned up and fishing got just a little better. Not 100% back to previous conditions, but we started seeing some wahoo again. (some really BIG wahoo!) Billfish got a little more active. Dorado seemed to get hungrier as well. Our La Paz boats were finding some spots of small to medium dorado which was nice to see. It’s about time we see some better dorado! We even saw our largest dorado of the year which were 30-40 pounds. Inshore, some roosters were biting as well as yellow snapper, cabrilla and pargo. Still too early to be definitive, but signs are encouraging. There’s alot of variety around. Every day seems different.
Pretty good first trip for Riley Florence from Kansas. Got his first roosterfish and this nice wahoo as well with Captain Jorge and our Las Arenas Fleet.
Roger Thompson doing what he does so well. Nail big fish. He’s had another giant week and check out the thick wahoo here!
Long run from Tennessee, with our Captain Victor, James Kilton and Kelly Donohue. Triple on the wahoo on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.
Charger nation! Our daughter and her husband from Las Vegas, Jessie and Brian Reid with quite a variety of fish. Wahoo…giant pompano…white bonito…rainbow runner and hugs triggerfish!
She catches fish and always takes great photos! Our amiga Donna Thompson with another big skinny! The ‘hoo bit great off the island!
Ash Ibrahim from San Diego probably had the most fun of anyone this week when he brought his family. Take a look at this roosterfish then watch the video below of how he released it!
Big smiles for Nicole Ibrahim showing off her rooster as she came down this week with her family to celebrate her graduation from college!
Nothing wrong with this photo! Anthony Ibrahim lives in San Diego is about to hit his 3rd year in college in Washington DC. He got himself a nice rooster that he photo’d and released!
Army buddies…friends for life! Owen Hofecker from Johnstown, Pennysylvania and Paul de Haan from Bountiful, Utah triple teamed with Captain Gerardo to put the hurt to three wahoo off Cerralvo Island.
Captain Armando with Doug Edwards wahoo and Penni De Haans striper. On the beach at Bahia de los Muertos. The marlin meat was nicely donated. After a 2 hour fight, the fish was not able to be released.
Nothing like the kids’ smiles! Sofia Ibrahim from San Diego got the biggest pargo of the day fishing around Espirito Santo Island. Brother Tony throws the photos bomb!
First rooster for Riley Florence from Kansas with a nice catch and release with Captain Jorge.
The water must still have some cool spots in it! From San Diego, Jim Bovee with a huge sierra!
Ash and Tony Ibrahim with some great dinner stuff…cabrilla and snapper taken off the island in some great action!
WAHOO ROOSTERS AND ROCKIES CENTER STAGE
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 24-31, 2015
For the most part, great weather and great fishing conditions most of the week resulting in some pretty solid catches. Lots of sunshine and increasingly better looking water all-the-way-around helped our anglers put some bend in the rods for a 2nd straight week.
Our biggest problem was a scare that popped up on the radar about mid-week showing a big tropical storm headed our way that was going to bring rain and strong winds beginning this weekend. With so many folks still nervous about Hurricane Odile from last year and many people still smarting over the recovery, the last thing we need is a storm! As far as fishing is concerned, our bite has been so good the last two weeks, I surely wasn’t looking forward to ANYTHING that would mess up the waters or keep folks ashore! Had this storm hit us, it would have brought 2-4 days of intermittent rain.
However, the fishing gods smiled on us and other than some winds late in the week, the sun has continued to shine brilliantly in a cloudless sky and the storm moved off into the pacific without even casting shadow! Whew…
LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS
That wahoo bite that kicked in two weeks ago continued again. As I said last week, I’ve never seen a wahoo bite like this here in our waters in the 20 years I’ve been down here in La Paz. Almost every day, each of our pangas got 1-4 wahoo and lost others. Most days, if a panga came back without a wahoo, it was because:
1. They weren’t trying for wahoo or
2. They lost the wahoo they hooked
I’ll let our amigo, Roger Thompson tell you best:
“We were on the water at 5:30 this morning and had our first wahoo on the boat by 6am. At 6:15, we had another. Next was a double hookup around 7am and we landed both fish. We also saw 1 giant free swimmer just under the boat while fighting these 2. We hooked 2 more wahoo and lost 1 just before 7:30. Hooked another around 8:15 and this one came unbuttoned 10 feet from the boat. I hate it when that happens! No more wahoo bites for an hour and decided we caused enough damage for one day so we stopped to reel in the Rapalas and head back to the ramp. I slowed down, put her into neutral, and shut it down…….then wham. The short one got slammed and the bonus fish was in the box after 10 minutes of high speed runs and wahoos!
I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s an early morning bite for sure. It reminded me of the “good ole days”!
These fish were all quality fish between 26 and 42 pounds. “
Some of our amigos who fished multiple days with us in the area actually got to the point where the didn’t want to fish for wahoo anymore! There were others who just didn’t want to take any more wahoo home and there were alot of very happy captains who were getting 1-3 wahoo as “gifts” to take home!
The other “fish” we’ve been doing pretty solidly on are the rooster fish. It’s not wide-open, but there’s some medium-sized 20-60 pound fish cruising around and if you wanted to catch a rooster, there was even-money that you had a good chance on any given day of hooking 1-2 fish. Way better than say, two weeks ago . All fish are getting released.
Also seeing a few more dorado in the area. I’m surprised there aren’t more around by this time of the season already. Normally, we’re thick with dorado by now!
LA PAZ
We had consistent fishing with our La Paz fleet headed straight out and working north of the city around Espirito Santo Island or around the corner between Tecolote and Las Cruces.
We are definitely seeing more dorado action with fish between 10-20 pounds at the largest, but again, I would have expected more dorado by this time.
The best bite has been inshore among the rocks. Good action on some really sweet pargo, yellow snapper, amberjack and big cabrilla. Lots of larger fish getting lost in the rocks.
We’re seeing a few more marlin around that are actually willing to bite. Several were hooked and lost.
Tailhunter Fish Report 