Tailhunter Fish Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS

CLIP 1:

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

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

CLIP 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED YOUR DAILY FISHING FIX?

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

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

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

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

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Although all the great photos might fool you…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

white/brown/yellow would be handy to have.

4. Some small trolling feathers.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

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

PHOTO 1: Tim Fitzpatrick of Redondo Beach spent a few days with us going north of town with Captains Chito and Raul and hit some rough weather but still got into some great grades of yellowtail like this big slugger.

PHOTO 2: Two of our old amigos, Chris Fitzpatrick and Mark Martis come down several times a year and always seem to do well. The two of them show off some big-time yellowtail they caught this week fishing live bait north of La Paz. The two of them have fished with us since the earliest days of our Tailhunter Fleet.

PHOTO 3: Yes…the amberjack are in! Mark Martis from Redondo Beach CA holds up an amberjack…these are generally the larger and tastier cousins to the yellowtail and grow over 100 pounds. However, these “smaller” guys are better tasting but surely fights just as hard.
All members of the “jack” family have “attitude”…yellowtail, amberjack, jack crevalle, pompano, roosterfish are all part of the tribe.

PHOTO 4: Headed for the grill, Mark holds up this nice pargo mulatto (barred pargo) one of the best eating fish in the Sea of Cortez.

INSHORE SPECIES CONTINUE TO COME ON STRONG BUT WARM WATER FISH MOVING INTO THE AREA

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 14-17, 2010

It was largely a cloudy grey week with sometimes intermittently strong winds, but we had some undoubtedly encouraging fishing. Big yellowtail continued to be the highlight with some nice grades of fish being taken at the usual spots like north and south ends of Cerralvo (aka Jacques Cousteau ) Island and around Punta Perrico. As well, some of the coves around the east side of Espirito Santo Island, the Salvatierra wreck, and also around Punta Coyoto produced some fish in the 25-35 pound class that gave anglers all they could handle.

In those same areas, if the yellowtail were taking a powder, large jack crevalle, amberjack up to 25 pounds and pargo up to 20 pounds were also taken although our captains tell us that larger fish were lost to the rocks and reefs.

Additional varieties of fish this week included cabrilla (seabass), sierra, and surprising schools of roosterfish that seemed to pop up…several days of nothing then one day, large schools of 15-20 pound fish move in chasing the baits. Reports as well of numerous marlin and sailfish sunning themselves in various spots make us wonder about El Nino since it’s pretty early to be seeing billfish in the area, but they seem to be lethargically sunning themselves.

Usually when we see this, it just takes a few degrees of warming in the waters and they suddenly go off and get hungry so we’ll have to keep an eye. To the south of us, they’re getting giant humboldt squid which is also unusual as they huge animals are often a vanguard for tuna coming up out of the trenches.

Some of the private boats are seeing schools of dolphin 30-50 miles offshore travelling with tuna, but the fish are moving so fast, it’s hard to get on them. Still seeing the occasional dorado caught as well so things are definitely brewing for us to see so many signs of warm water fish this early.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

PHOTO 1: Now THAT’s what we call a yellowtail! Rob Maclean comes down several times a year whenever he can sneak on down and teams up with Capt. Jorge for some great catches every time. He fished several days with us and ripped up some of the big boy yellowtail we’ve been waiting for. This fish was caught while fishing out’ve Muertos Bay with the Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

PHOTO 2: Rob did some nice damage to the yellowtail schools. Here, he holds another big forktail. That’s the southern end of Cerralvo Island in the distance across the way.

PHOTO 3: Check out the flat seas and big fish! This is Rob Maclean admiring one of the big yellowtail. The guys said that they got cabrilla, but broke off alot of nice fish in the rocks. Fish were holding in several places as deep as 100 feet but also feeding on the surface.

PHOTO 4: Miguelito helps Tom and Rob Maclean with a load of their yellowtail standing in the sand at Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Ramon holds up a nice brace of “dinner.” On the left is a nice-sized cabrilla (seabass) and also a small yellowtail which is actually tastier than the larger grade fish. The fish are holding in the same areas up along the rocky shorelines and over the reefs and high spots.

YELLOWTAIL ROLL INTO ANGLERS AND LEAVE ALOT OF BROKEN LINES AND FRUSTRATED TIMES BUT SIGNS OF WARM WATER FISH STILL AROUND!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 7-14, 2010

Not the best weather this past week so it was fortunate we didn’t have alot of anglers. It wasn’t really bad but just perhaps more windy than we’d like it to be , which is often common this time of year and why it’s off-season. But characteristic of this part of the season, you get 3 gorgeous days and then you get a day or two of wind. Fortunately, with most of our anglers, we schedule them so that there’s flexibility in the schedule plus with our two fleets, we can accommodate them so that they fish on only the better days. Fish are here, but it’s always more fun when the sun is shining and the seas are flat, right?

Anyway, like I said, the fish are here. Not in full turbo yet, but definitely I’ll have to say yellowtail season has started and there’s some sluggers out there! Fish have been close into the rocky areas as is their habit and been in the 20-40 pound class. We’re losing more than half the fish, but that’s part of the game!

When you see these fish, you know it’s worth it. Take a look at the photos! Areas include north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Punta Coyote, Pilot Cove, Punta Perrico and a few others including one little hot spot that if I tell ya…I know a bunch of guys will take their private boats into it and boom…no more fish! You gotta come fish with us to find out!

The bite is not wide open…just yet, but we’ll keep you posted! I tell ya…it’s bubbling up. The fish are definitely here and some guys have really tangled with some slugger fish! These are quality fish and some real trophies. They are eating a variety of baits including sardines, mackerel, jigs and caballitos as well as slow trolled Rapalas or Yo-Zuri hydros as long as you don’t let the lures dive too deep and hang you up in the rocks in the shallows.

In addition to the yellowtail, they’re almost in the same areas where the big dog-tooth pargo and pargo liso have come into spawn. As one of our first-timer anglers described, “I looked down into the water and it was like a red copper colored mist was moving over the bottom and then I realized it was 30 pound fish undulating like giant Japanese koi under the panga! My first bait didn’t stand a chance and neither did I. My first 4 fish ripped me right into the rocks. I’ve never had my rod bend like that or been so frustrated trying to stop a fish!”

I’d say about 1 in 10 fish are getting put into the boat and then again, the average size of the fish are only the “smaller” 10 pounders. We haven’t had anyone been able to put one of the horse 30 or 40 pounders into the boat yet this season!

Roosterfish and sierra are still up in the shallows if you know where to look. There are all you could handle if you hit the right spots with light tackle being the most preferred way to have some fun.

One angler got tired of getting sawed off by the sierra teeth and lost several small crank baits. Being out, he pulled out a little hoochie (plastic skirt) with some wire on it and said he dropped it no more than 10 feet behind the gurgle of the slow prop wash of the motor and took 10 quick sierra up to 7 pounds. “Best ceviche I ever had and cooked with butter and garlic, was incredible at the Tailhunter Restaurant that night.”

Small flash: We ran into some tuna and marlin this week! Yes…that’s right. Have to keep the lid on it, but a strange strange hookup! We’ll keep you posted. Not supposed to be fish like that this early in the season! We’ll do some exploring and let you know!

Update on the Fiesta Inn that closed last week. They are apparently now going for a re-model and looking for a new big-name hotel tenant and plan to re-open as soon as that can be accomplished.

HEADING TO SALT LAKE CITY!

The Tailhunter 2010 tour is just leaving Redmond, Oregon and now we’re on the road headed to Salt Lake City for the final show on our 3-months road trip. We’ll be at the Expo Center in Sandy, Utah from Thursday to Sunday. Come by and check out the booth and say hi.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

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

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

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

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

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

YELLOWTAIL FINALLY SHOW TO KICK OFF MARCH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 28-March 7, 2010

We had another interesting week with quite a bit of variety at such diverse ends that it makes us wonder about the El Nino everyone says is upon us.

The best part is that yellowtail finally showed up in the counts. It’s about time! Fish ran 20-40 pounds and there weren’t alot caught compared to the number hooked, but that’s because most of the anglers were simply outgunned by the slugger fish or simply weren’t up to it! About 3 out of every 4 fish broke off!

The fish hit a variety of baits including mackerel and sardines as well as some of the caballitos that were found. Defintely, the larger baits were the preferred “candy” for the bigger fish. As well, yo-yo iron dropped off and jigged quickly back got some tremendous strikes. The secret is to not try to set the hook on a pick up but rather to keep grinding and turning that reel handle to make sure the fish is securely stuck in the jaw. Prefferred colors of lures includes blue and white as well as “scrambeled egg” (white, yellow, brown). Best spots included the north and south sides of Cerralvo Island, Punta Perrico off of Bahia de los Muertos and off Coyote Point where fish up to 30 pounds were seen in as shallow as just a few feet of water! We’ll keep you posted!

Inshore also, roosterfish and cabrilla as well as sierra were almost slam-dunk easy to hook most days. Wish we could say the same thing about the pargo. Easier to hook than put into the boat and the ones we got were the 5-15 pounders. The larger toad pargo kept taking guys into the rocks. The best news about the inshore fishing is that it looks like the yellowtail bite finally seems to have kicked in. Fish were in the 15-25 pound class, but about half the fish were breaking off. Still, it’s encouraging to finally get into some of the forktails.

On the other end of the spectrum, warm water fish like dorado are still hanging out. Not big fish but even seeing 5-15 pound fish in March is pretty remarkable. The fish are readily hitting sardines or any small feathers in dragged behind the pangas. As well, we’re seeing more and more marlin. We didn’t get any to bite this week, but again, having marlin in our waters this early in the season is worth keeping an eye on.

FIESTA INN IN LA PAZ CLOSES IT’S DOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Just as an aside, the new Fiesta Inn Hotel in La Paz closed it’s doors this week. Word has it that they plan to re-open at some undisclosed time in the future, but for now, the hotel is closed.

VOLARIS AIR ANNOUNCES SURPRISE DISCOUNT SALE UNTIL MARCH 9!

Volaris Airlines, the ever-growing popular airlines flying out of Tijuana to La Paz (and several other destinations) announced a pretty incredible fare to come to La Paz. Basically, for about 118 dollars one way and ONE PESO to come back, they’ll sell you a ticket! The restrictions are that you MUST purchase the ticket before March 9 and you MUST use the ticket to travel between May 1st and June 30th! Jump on it. Here’s the website:

http://www.volaris.com.mx/Inicio.aspx?culture=en-US

Check it out. Don’t wait. Seats are limited. Then c’mon down to see us!

TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR CONTINUES BACK TO OREGON THIS WEEK!

Our 2010 road tour of the best fishing and hunting shows in the west continues this week as we head to Bend, Oregon in the beautiful central Oregon area. The show runs from Thursday to Sunday and we’ll be there with the full booth and all the new brochures and DVDs to set up your next trip to come fishing in La Paz.

We just left the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show in Long Beach after 5 days and it was a monster! Wow! In more than 2 decades of doing this massive show, I’ve never had a show like this one. We were swamped from the get-go and folks were making their reservations about as fast as we could take them! Thanks to all of you who came by to say hi; to let me know you enjoyed yourselves fishing with us; to share your photos; to let me know you’re reading my reports and Baja columns and to make your reservations for 2010. A special shout-out to everyone who brought us goodies to the booth also!

I’m surprised we could even walk out of there after all the home-made cookies, Chinese food, jerky, cakes, Mexican food, pastries, sandwiches, and cheese, sausage, sushi and other goodies. Also, thanks to everyone who came by to wish me a happy birthday and brought cards and gifts. You’re the best! It was the best place to spend my day…in the middle of a fishing show with all my fishing amigos!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

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

PHOTO 1: Not bad for a beginner. Anglers come for years to try to land one of these beauties, but Vanessa Cannon from Utah got this nice roosterfish, but it was her first fish on her first day fishing…ever! Captain Jorge mugs with Vanessa. Note the calmness of the water just a few yards off the beach at Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 2: Next stop…the BIG SHOW! Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show. We are leaving a great show in Phoenix, our 6th show of the Tailhunter Tour and now headed to Long Beach where we’ll be in our regular booth spot on tackle row next to Calstar rods, Izorline and our pal, Ed Robison at Whopper Stopper Rods. The show goes Wednesday to Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center.

LONG BEACH SHOW COMING UP MARCH 3-7 LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER

Well, we’ve put 5 shows under our belts on the 2010 tour…Denver, San Mateo, Sacramento, Puyallup (Washington), Portland and now we’re just finished Phoenix where we had an outstanding show at the University of Phoenix Football Stadium where the NFL Cardinals play. So, now…here we come…the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. This is the big crazy one! Our booth will be in it’s usual spot on tackle row smack in the middle of the main hall next to Izorline and Calstar rods. Come see us and say hi and lock in your La Paz fishing trip for 2010.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

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