Tailhunter Fish Report

PHOTO 1: No, this wasn’t taken in July! However, it’s highly unusual to find this kind of a dorado feed so late in the season. Fernando Sucre and his group of amigos from the San Francisco area with three of them shown here: Vince Saunders, Fernando, Paul Scheuring, and Eric Techel from L-R. They also lost and released a number of fish as well. They were fishing just off Muertos Bay and got in a day of scuba diving as well. Live sardines did the trick.

PHOTO 2: Texan Dave Crawford put in 3 days of fishing and got a tremendous number of variety. In addtion to warm water dorado, they got some of the largest sierra I’ve seen in many seasons. The sierra are thick and can provide a day-long bite by themselves. Here, a fresh one is headed for the box with Captain Victor looking on.

PHOTO 3: Escaping chilly New Mexico, our amigo Larry Daniel, fished 3 days and seemed to hook just about everything swimming. In addition to a number or roosterfish like this one (released) they also go dorado, pargo, sierra and others and released many fish as well.

PHOTO 4: Dave Crawford showing off a few of his dorado again. The fish were not far off the shoreline and on several days were thick and eating as fast a new baits could be thrown in the water.

PHOTO 5: One in every crowd and this is Gary “Lefty” Evans from S. California show demonstrates how to hold up 3 fish when you only have TWO hands! He has a dorado in each hand and that’s a pargo hanging from his uh…well…it’s hanging…

PHOTO 6: No, you can’t catch fish here, but you can put a club in your hand now and take some swings. The Paraiso del Mar on Mogote Peninsula is now in full operation and Tailhunter is now offering fishing/golfing packages for the coming season so you can get in a few days of fishing and golf now! Ask us about it. This is the view from the clubhouse/restaurant.

PHOTO 7: They’ve really done a nice job on the course and it will be great to offer the fishing/ golf packages now.

EXCELLENT WEEK OF FISHING WITH A BREAK IN THE WINDS PROVIDES VARIETY OF FISH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 6-12, 2009

Really an exceptional week of fishing here. Given that it’s almost Christmas, the sun was out and the winds stayed down and the fish bit like it was summer-time, except that we had a great mix of unusual warm-water fish as well as the more typical seasonal fish. In fact, the dorado bit like mad dogs some days where the anglers had to pull away from the spots or were throwing fish back as fast as they could unhook them. Some of these dorado were easily in the 30-pound class and we had reports of some monster 40 pounders lost at the boat.

By contrast, the cooler water fish were also hogging center ring. It was an incredible week for sierra fishing as well with some of the biggest sierra I have ever seen. Some of the anglers were calling them “baby wahoo.” You could load up a limit of sierra in short order then round it out with pargo, snapper, cabrilla, rainbow runners then finish the day catching and releasing roosterfish and jack crevalle.

GOLF PACKAGES FOR 2010

Just to let you know that beginning this coming fishing season, we’re now able to offer fishing/golf packages now that the beautiful Paraiso Del Mar Golf Course is open. Tailhunter has special prices for it’s anglers so fish a little and take a day and swing some clubs. Ask us for details.

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: His first wahoo, Brian “Bill” Harnack of Los Angeles poses with Captain Jorge south of Cerralvo Island. It’s late in the year, but the wahoo are still around. Bill and his family caught a variety of fish over several days of fishing including this wahoo, tuna, dorado, sierra and roosterfish.

Photo 2: Sue Cross from San Francisco was on her first trip to La Paz and shows off a great dorado caught near shore with Captain Pancho. Dorado are still in the area eating live sardines and slow-trolled bonito strips. The fish range from 5-20 pounds, but larger fish in the 25-30 pound class have been hooked and lost.

PHOTO 3: He’s just 12 years old, but Andre Harnack has pulled on quite a few fish, but got into some really nice fishing this past week with a variety of fish that included sierra, dorado, roosterfish and this nice tuna he hooked with our Las Arenas fleet. He also had on a wahoo that came unbuttoned.

PHOTO 4: Headed for the dinner table, Bill Lee, was on his 2nd trip of the year with us. From the San Francisco area, he holds up a barred pargo also known as a pargo mulatto. Great eating. Get to be about 40 pounds, but the smaller ones taste better. Tough fighters in the rocks!

PHOTO 5: This is a great catch with lots of variety more typical of winter fishing. Bill Lee and Sue Cross have sierra, triggerfish, green pargo and pargo liso on the box. They were fishing with our Tailhunter Fleet off Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 6: Trenton Staley from chilly Parker, Colorado got to take off his jacket and got into some good dorado fishing outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 7: It’s about time for these pargo liso to start moving into the shallows to start spawning. Casey Staley is from Colorado, but lives part-time here in La Paz. He’s fishing with Captain Jorge.

GREAT VARIETY INCLUDING TUNA WAHOO DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH KEEP WINTER ANGLERS BENT!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, 2009

A nice mixed week of fishing. Town is almost empty. Weather is beautiful and a great time to be in La Paz and if you go fishing, it’s like having the whole ocean to yourselves! The winds pretty much dictate where we fish and what we fish for these days. Almost all of our fishing is being done with our Las Arenas fleet launching out of Bahia de Los Muertos. That way, even if it’s windy we can still hug the shore and catch fish. Surprisingly, we’re not only getting inshore species, but offshore species are close to shore as well.

There are abundant sierra to be caught as the schools have now moved into the inshore areas and you can spend your whole day tearing it up with these speedsters. Live bait fished with a little bit of wire on the hook works great as does slow trolling small crank baits with wire. Good idea to change all treble hooks to single hooks or simply cut off two of the treble hooks as it gets tough to pull three hooks out of the snapping teeth of a sierra.

In addition to the sierra, there’s snapper, pargo, and cabrilla and surprisingly still some good roosterfish to be caught along the sandy areas. The real surprise is that we’re still taking bluewater species like a few tuna here and there in the 25 pound class as well as the occasional wahoo. On the days you could get out there and the wind laid down, there’s a pesky school of football tuna at the north end of Cerralvo Island and a good shot at taking a wahoo there as well around North Point and La Reyna. If not, then south end of Cerralvo Island and near Punta Perrico would be our 2nd choice. Dorado schools flurry in and out and often surprise anglers who find every rod suddenly bent. On two days, it was like summer fishing! The dorado literally swarmed the boats and it was wild. As soon as the winds came up, the fish petered out, but by then, the guys had bloody decks and full fish boxes! We also hooked and lost a few striped marlin too.

Bring a sweatshirt or light jacket for the cool mornings on the water or evenings in town. Long pants aren’t a bad idea either. It’s a “chilly” 65 at night at 82 in the daytimes. Locals like ourselves are all in long pants and sweatshirts these days!

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.”

FEW ANGLERS AND INCONSISTENT WEATHER STILL PROVIDE FAIRLY GOOD LATE SEASON FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 22-28, 2009

Not many anglers in town and fishing conditions have been variable. One day it’s sunny and calm. The next day, it’s sunny with lots of wind. The next day it’s cloudy and cold and looks like rain. We even got little sprinkles here and there. The seasons are definitely changing.

Almost all our fishing has been out of Las Arenas/Muertos. Right now with the unpredictability of the weather, it’s the best bet because even if the weather is less than desirable, at least we don’t have to go very far to catch fish. Close to shore, we can still get some roostersfish, jack crevalle and the occasional pompano.

As well, the chance of getting into a nice school of sierra is always there so that you can put easily a limit of the speedsters in the box in short time or catch-and-release as fast as you want. Good idea to bring a little wire for your hooks because these fish have sharp teeth.

If conditions are right, there’s still the opportunity to get into some of the bluewater fish still lingering. The good thing is that you don’t really have to go too far for the fish. Some schools of tuna and dorado aren’t too far from shore and a little live bait can get the fish worked up fast. But if it’s really windy, then too much chop seems to keep the fish lockjawed and down unwilling to come to the surface. There’s still some marlin and sailfish around too moving in the areas of bonito off the south end of Cerralvo (er…Jacques Cousteau Island *) Island. Also, there’s still some wahoo in the area as well. If you have the right rig in the water at the righ time, wahoo are in that same area between the south side of the island and the Punta Perrico area.

*As of Nov. 17th, that’s the new name for Cerralvo Island.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

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: Good friends for many years, Ray and Nathan Chow from the Bay Area of California make it down each year and always do well. This year, they came later in the season and found they had the fishing grounds almost to themselves with not much competition for hungry tuna and dorado like these. Captain Victor looks on.

PHOTO 2: We’re not doing much fishing right now with our La Paz Fleet because the winds are too strong and sporadic out of the north many days but when we do get out, there’s dorado and lots of sierra like these held up by Ray and Nathan Chow who fished 3 days out of Las Arenas and then this one day out of La Paz. They also got cabrilla and yellow snapper along with the sierra.

PHOTO 3: Taken from Las Arenas Beach near the lighthouse, this is Cerralvo Island in the background…the legendary island is no more. Say good-bye! Sadly…Story below!

NUMEROUS SPECIES STILL BITING DESPITE COOLER TEMPS AND VERY LITTLE FISHING PRESSURE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 15-21, 2009

PHOTO 1: So late in the season, there are surprisingly a nice batch of quality tuna still being caught around Cerralvo Island and just outside of Muertos Bay just SE of La Paz. These 25-35 pound fish aren’t wide open, but the bite can be steady and relatively close to shore. Jill Roldan (my wife!) of La Paz and Tailhunter International used drifted dead sardines and light tackle to hammer this nice yellowfin tuna after a tough battle.

PHOTO 2: Where have these big fish been? Normally, the fall is the time for these big bull dorado, but most of them have been school-sized fish in the 10-15 pound class. This might be one of the larger bull dorado of the season and fell for a live sardine tossed out on 25-pound-test as it swam by the panga. I just saw the “swirl” and didn’t realize the size of the fish until it took off and went airborne! Otherwise, I would have grabbed some heavier gear or at least something with heavier leader. Fortunately, the fish was lip-hooked and couldn’t chomp the line.

PHOTO 3: Not a bad day at all. Four yellowfin tuna, 1 dorado, 1 sierra, numerous big bonito. Actually, the first day all season were were able to get out on the water together.

PHOTO 4: Two great amigos…Nathan and his dad, Ray Chow from the San Francisco Bay Area come to see us each year. They had to postpone their trip twice this year, but finally made it down albeit later in the season than they are accustomed to. They found they pretty much had the ocean all to themselves as opposed to the busier times of the year and got into some nice jags of dorado and tuna.

PHOTO 5: Although because of the northern winds that are popping up with more regularity now that the season are changing, we’re doing most of our fishing out of protected Muertos Bay, we’re still getting the occasional panga out of La Paz. Weather permitting, the dorado are still there too with fish in the 10-25 pound class. East-coaster, Gerry Mulholland holds up a sample of a nice bull.

DORADO – TUNA – WAHOO – BILLFISH – SIERRA BEND ANGLERS DESPITE WINDS

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 8-14, 2009

Seasons have definitely changed down here after a season of sweltering heat and humidity. We’re probably having some of the most pleasant weather of the year right now. Not hot. Not cold. Just right. Northern breezes, strong at times, are keeping us doing most of our fishing out of Muertos Bay now, but occasionally, when we send a boat out of La Paz with out fleet, they are getting limits or near limits of dorado to 25 pounds.

As mentioned, the better conditions and fishing have been with our Las Arenas/Muertos Bay fleet. Even when the winds blow, the fishing is so relatively close to shore that it makes for a great day. Except for having to run the island to get bait, we then come back and fish literally no more than 5 minutes out of the Bay and maybe only 100-200 yards off the beach.

Fresh dead sardines have worked great on the tuna school that seems to have planted itself between the big houses on the hill at Punta Perrico and the old Las Arenas Hotel. Some days we get 1 or 2 fish per boat. Other days, the boats will get 2-6 fish per panga. Still great fishing for November and the 25-35 pound grade fish are incredible fighters, especially on light tackle.

As well, huge bonito up to 12 pounds give the tuna a run for the money in terms of fighting power but then schools of dorado and free swimming marlin and sailfish also come through the same areas where the pangas are fishing for the tuna. Just about every day, I see some panga suddenly hooked up and chasing down a leaping billfish blowing up in the middle of the fleet and pangas trying to get out’ve the way amid lot of laughter and screaming anglers. Surprisingly, this late in the season, we’re getting quite a few billfishing. I’ve never seen so many marlin and sails this late in the year.

For the dorado, we’ve still got ‘em swimming around in relatively nice numbers, but the best way to get them going to catch bonito then slow troll strips of them behind the panga. After a hookup, toss live bait to see if the school follows the hooked fish in. Often, 2, 3 or more fish come to the boat.

In addition, every few days, someone hooks a wahoo around Cerralvo. In fact, if you’re the right person at the right time in the right spot, the wahoo can go off. Same with roosterfish and sierra as well. Just a nice time to be here for the moment.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Here’s some footage from the week of fishing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zL8PuvoaZQ

JACK VELEZ FUND

Thanks to all of you who generously donated to the family. Big and small, we collected close to 6 thousand dollars to help the family after Jack’s passing earlier this summer. We had a small memorial dinner now that the season has slowed down, and surprised them with the funds. The family wanted me to express their gratitude to all of you for your spirit and generosity. God bless you all.

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: The photo does not do justice to this fish. If it looks like a big yellowfin tuna that’s becaues it is! It’s 383 pounds caught by San Jose del Cabo resident Oscar Dacarrett. Jill and I have been working all week at the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament in Cabo San Lucas and right off the bat, this fish not only blew away the field as the first fish weighed in, it destroyed the record books. It’s the largest fish of the tournament. It’s the new record for the tournament but even moreso, it’s a new record yellowfin tuna for Mexico and only 5 pound shy of the WORLD RECORD!

PHOTO 2: It’s hard to believe that with the history of Baja fishing, no other yellowfin tuna this large have ever been caught on rod and reel, but this historic fish was taken on the Gorda Banks SE of Cabo San Lucass. It ate a live bullito and surprisingly chomped a little 4/0 circle hook!

PHOTO 3: The media crush on the docks was incredible as everyone vied for a shot or piece of video of the fish at the Cabo docks.

PHOTO 4: For years, Clarence “Butch” Tropez of Los Angeles had been trying to get his wife, Norma, down to Baja. For their 22nd anniversary she finally acquiesced and he even got her out for a day of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and Captain Adolfo. They got limits of dorado early and were done by 11 a.m. and had such a great time, Butch thinks he’ll have a hard time coming back to La Paz without her! This photo was taken just outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Kelli Gora from Los Angeles was on her first trip to see us with husband Dave. They fished one day with Captain Victor from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and got a tuna and limits of dorado like this one just off Punta Perrico.

WIND SETTLE DOWN FOR SOME NICE FISHING ALTHOUGH FEW FISHERMEN IN TOWN NOW. BUT CHECK OUT NEAR WORLD RECORD YELLOWFIN TUNA!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 1-7, 2009

Well, the winds calmed down and it’s hard to describe the fishing only because there were so few fishermen and the weather was incredible. I guess the word is “pleasant.” It was no-stress fishing. No wind. No waves. The fish bit and there was almost no one on the water. Almost like having the whole ocean to yourself at times like old school-old-Baja fishing! We got a nice assortment of fish with a wide variety depending on where you fished and how you fished. Dorado were the mainstay for anglers looking for bluewater fish, but they dorado could be as close as a few yards off the beach, especially for our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet.

As well, as the week went on ,yellowfin tuna in the 20 pound class provided some nice action with about 2-5 fish per panga on the average to go along with the 15 pound dorado. Inshore, we got more sierra as the waters cooled but roosterfish and snapper were also in the counts as well as amberjack, pompano and jack crevalle.

BIG TUNA BREAKS MEXICO RECORDS AND ALMOST WORLD RECORD!

We spent the better part of the week working for Western Outdoor News at their 11th annual Tuna Jackpot Tournament in Cabo San Lucas south of us in La Paz. It’s always a blast being part of the tournament crew. This year was better than ever.

Right off the bat, the first fish of the two-day event turned into a fish-of-all fish. We got the radio call that they were bringing in a “huge” fish. Ok…heard that one before, but we knew the boat and crew were local and it was unusual for a tournament team to bring in a fish so soon. They said it was over 300 pounds. Ho-hum…everyone thinks their fish is BIG.

However, as soon as the boat hit the docks and we got a look at it, all skepticism melted. This was obviously, a pig of a fish! It was indeed a giant cow yellowfin tuna and we had a project just getting it off the boat and carted to the weigh-station 100 yards down the docks. The fish was so big, that we had to re-configure the ropes holding the scales!

However, when the digital scale was read out at “383 pounds!” the winning team and whole place went nuts! Not only was it the new record fish for the tournament (previous best was 319 pounds), but it was the largest yellowfin tuna ever records from Mexico waters; the 5th largest yellowfin tuna ever; AND only 5 pounds off the world record!

It was great to be here and part of the event!

Here is video footage of that first day of the tournament. The flare-gun start was shot from the stern of the official start boat so that’s why it gets a bit rocky. However, turn up the sound and we hope you enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_5YNFf5kYo

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: Scott Brown and James Talley on their first trip to La Paz had an eventful few days of fishing despite less-than-perfect conditions. In addition to these dorado and fat cabrilla, they also got two sailfish (released); a striped marlin on 25-pound test (released); and a big roosterfish (released). AWESOME!

PHOTO 2: Earl Fiscalini gets a hand with his yellowfin tuna from Guy (Subchild) Fiscalini-Petree both from the Central Coast area of California. The tuna were tougher to get this week due to heavy north winds that really stirred up the waters and made fishing rough.

PHOTO 3: This is a sample of the nice mix of fish typical of a good day this week with our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fleet. We really had to work hard for the fish this week. Alot of boats really had to scratch. Because of the tough conditions, we didn’t do much fishing north of La Paz.

PHOTO: 4: John Stephen made the best of difficult conditions with this nice yellowfin tuna right out in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas. The fish were definitely there, but it was hard to hold a drift or get the baits down to the fish because of the big winds and waves.

PHOTO 5: Captain Gerardo looks on behind Mary Busse with her yellowfin tuna taken before the winds came on and the tuna were running rampant. Most of the fish were 20-35 pounders.

PHOTO 6: Al Tesoro has made three trips to La Paz this year and finally got more tuna than he could handle, but shows off two of his yellowfin he caught near the Las Arenas lighthouse.

PHOTO 7: Captain Calamar put two of our best amigos, race car driver Art Savedra from Las Vegas
and long-time Tailhunter friend, Jeff Slater from Long Beach onto a pile of tuna and dorado earlier in the week.

PHOTO 8 : Dave Busse hoists up another yellowfin in front of Captain Gerardo. Dave and his wife Mary spent a few days fishing and diving with us.

GOOD START TURNS TO PICKY BITE AS NORTH WINDS RIP AREA!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 25-31, 2009

The week started well-enough. All the dorado you could want no matter if you fished with our Las Arenas or our La Paz fleet. Not a lot of big fish, but solid numbers of 10-20 pound fish all-day-long and you could catch-and-release to your heart’s content.

As well, if you fished with our Las Arenas fleet, that school of 20-35 pound yellowfin tuna parked right off the beach between the Arenas lighthouse and Punta Perrico continued to kick out a nice bite with boats averaging 2-7 fish per panga and really putting on a show. As several veteran anglers said, “These fish fight a lot bigger than they are! They are amazingly strong.” Whether it was tuna or dorado, it wasn’t complicated fishing. You either fished with live sardines for the dorado or stripped slow trolled chunks of fresh bonito. The tuna came up mostly on handfuls of drifted dead sardines.

Later in the week, it got tricky. Strong northern winds kicked in and kicked our butts. In fact, it was ridiculous to try to fish out of La Paz and was had all our anglers fish with our Las Arenas fleet instead where it was still bumpy, but at least they could get out on the water and had a chance for fish.

Dorado were still the mainstay with a smattering of tuna and lots of big bonito, but the bite clearly had diminished, but at least guys got to fish. These are the type of seasonal winds we can expect now as the seasons change away from the warmer fall to winter-type fishing. Never can tell when it’s going to be crazy weather. As we hit the weekend, the winds diminished, but at the time of this writing, it remains to be seen how much of an effect it has had on the bite.

Actually, once the winds died, an interesting thing happened. The weather improved, but the bite got worse! We really had to scratch for our biters. However, all of a sudden, marlin and sailfish showed up. One day, out of 10 pangas, we hooked and released 9 marlin and one big blue marlin spooled one of our anglers on 50-pound test. As one of my captains told me, “We had three marlin just swimming around the boat waiting for us to feed them!” They were more than willing to jump on a little hooked sardine about 3-inches long. We’ll see if this continues.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vhrTZV_yHk

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: Tuna on the chew! Just a solid week of yellowfin tuna fishing for most of the week with some days the tuna were almost jumping in the boat. Friend and La Paz regular, Steve Marabella, shows off some of the quality fish that took up residence within a few hundred yards of the Las Arenas lighthouse near La Paz.

PHOTO 2: This is what ” WIDE OPEN” looks like on a panga! Ken Mitchell and Ken Gragg from Fresno CA flank Capt. Gerardo who’s trying to hold onto another fish in the middle. Boats were literally only a few yards away from each other often with every single rod bent on 25-35 pound tuna. You can see how close to shore our boats were fishing. Often anglers took limits of tuna within an hour or two!

PHOTO 3: Hacienda Heights CA resident, Sed Roldan (yes. .. my dad) came down for a visit and took more fish in two days of fishing than he had in several years of fishing with us. They simply had to stop. Within seconds of baits hitting the water, yellowfin tuna would rocket straight up and fight each other to gulp the sardine. Pangas were sometimes so close that several anglers hooked-up would tangle each other with fish!

PHOTO 4: After several trips this year to get tuna unsuccessfully, Lois Tsunoda finally put tuna in the box. She and husband Gary from S. California spent 3 days fishing with us of taking home doroado and yellowfin tuna while fishing with both our Las Arenas and La Paz our fleets.

PHOTO 5: Our friends, Richard and Jackie Yamada took time off from running their operation at the popular Shelter Island Lodge near Juneau, Alaska http://www.shelterlodge.com/ to chase some dorado and tuna instead of halibut and salmon. They got these nice yellowin their first day out fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet the day after Hurricane Rick left us.

PHOTO 6: Dave Prather from Arizona was on his first fishing trip down to see us and got into some fantastic fishing. In the middle of the tuna grounds’ve got an unusual bite and realized it was not fighting like a tuna. Instead, he pulled up this trophy grouper just yards off the Punta Perrico rocks.

PHOTO 7: Bob Dominguez said, “I” m done, let’s go home! “after tangling with his first tuna of the day. He was to go on and take tuna limits two days in a row as well as several dorado. Bob is from Hacienda Heights CA .

Photo 8 – Paul and Renee pose with just a few of their yellowfin tuna. This was Renee’s 2nd trip to see us this year. Last trip in the summer, he nailed a big wahoo. No wahoo on this trip, but he plugged the boat with Paul for several days with loads of yellowfin tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 9: Jeff Sakuda comes to see us about 2-3 times a year and always rips the fish. Under the tuna schools, Jeff found this grouper lurking and ready to eat! We got several big rock fish like this during the past week.

PHOTO 10: Shay Hamada and Kenji Yamada sometimes live in California, Hawaii and Alaska. He manages the Shelter Island Lodge in Alaska and also skippers clients and knows how to properly pose with a fish! Shay holds a nice dorado while Kenji hung this nice yellow fin.

PHOTO 11: Even though we had a Category 5 hurricane bearing down on us, Dan and Bob McPhee from the San Francisco Bay area said, they did not care and would take their chances about fishing. As it turned out, the storm by-passed us and their gamble paid off with several solid days of great fishing. They hold a handful of some of their yellowfin tuna.

PHOTO 12: All the way from the East Coast, Mike Bradley and Gerald Mulholland took so many fish their first day, they caught and released fish the rest of their days fishing.

PHOTO 13: An outsanding shot of Bob Sayre’s sailfish on-the-hook! Worthy of framing! The sailfish was released.

THE “PERFECT STORM” (thankfully) never materialized TEAR UP ANGLERS AND FISH!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 18-24, 2009

We appear to have dodged the bullet of “Hurricane Rick” a potential Category 5 storm that had been touted as the “Perfect Storm” and bore down towards Southern Baja. It had us all pretty much running for SANDBAGS with no real place to go. As it turned out, the storm turned south and diminished to a tropical storm and dropped only sporadic hard rain and some strong winds that cost us only one day of keeping the boats off the water.

The larger misfortune, aside from cancelations from many anglers understandably nervous about the impending storm, was that it dampered what had been the best tuna bite of the season and perhaps in many years.

Right in front of the beach between the Las Arenas lighthouse and Muertos Bay a line of 25-35 pound tuna literally took up residence and slashed and ripped anglers for several days. One concentration of the fish in perhaps only 50 feet of water had fish grabbing air and hang time while fighting each other to jump on live sardines, dead sardines and almost anything else thrown into the waters. If you looked down you could see the tuna shredding the water under the pangas and many of them were so close with every rod bent that many of the pangas were getting tangled up with each other.

Fortunately, the fish were so thick that anglers were laughing and shouting at each other because it took no time at all to get bit almost instantly! I’ve been here a long time and this was one of the funnest tuna fish bites … ever!

It was just way too much fun to look out over the area and see fish breaking water, boiling, coming out of the water like they had not eaten in weeks. You could throw a sardine in the water and within seconds … it did not stand a chance … two or three tuna would try to inhale it and literally crash into each other trying to be the first to hit it.

Between the boats, all you could hear guys were yelling and screaming and laughing and the sound of clickers and drags going off … such a sweet sweet sound! Those of you who have been in bites like this, know what I’m talking about.

As well, dorado went off nicely with fish in the 10-20 pounds and surprisingly, in the same areas, big snapper and grouper also showed up to mix it up with the bite. A few wahoo were hooked, but all lost.

After the storm, things got a bit slower and anglers had to work a bit harder for the tuna, but there was no slow-down on the dorado. Heck, it was almost like the dorado had something to prove after being ignored by the great tuna bite the last few weeks. The tuna did not charge as hard so the dorado filled in the slack. Easy limits if you wanted them! Bottom line … way too many fish! That’s what I’m talkin ‘about!

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS!

If you want to see more and see it live … check out this week’s video clips and turn up the sound! Click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQqr56fEVY

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: Just another lovely day in paradise. Paul Sipillian and Leo Avakian from Los Angeles just put in a really tough day of fishing! Yellowfin tuna bit hard all week just outside of Muertos Bay, actually just in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas. Our pangas were coming back to the beach after only 2 0r 3 hours on the water totally plugged with fish. Hey…who’s gonna clean all that tuna?

PHOTO 2: Two of the most prolific anglers we see each year, our amigos Steve Greanias and his dad, Chris, always stick the fish big time. They fished 3 days and spanked the tuna, but on their 3rd day fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet they concentrated on dorado but then went inshore and went after the pargo! They got the fish boiling behind the boat, then Steve started heaving the surface iron and nailed some of these fish that most folks think only bite in the springtime!

PHOTO 3: All the way from Illinois! Bob and Bill Sayre did some fishing and SCUBA with us but on their first day on the water with rain threatening, they fished out’ve Muertos Bay with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and dog-piled on some really quality dorado and yellowfin tuna.

PHOTO 4: Martha Bell from Hacienda Heights CA wanted me to be sure to tell everyone that by 9:30 a.m. in the morning fishing with Captain Victor, they were completely limited on tuna and dorado like this one with Captain Victor in the background and the south side of Cerralvo Island. This was Martha’s first time fishing in La Paz.

PHOTO 5: Maybe on the of the larger dorado of the week, normally, we get alot of the larger bulls in the fall. However, this year, we’re getting more school-sized fish in the 10-20 pound class. Robert Marganian shows off his nice female mahi on the beach.

PHOTO 6: Naveed Ahmed, our buddy who says “The curse is over!” because he never caught fish did so on his first day on the water with us. Fishing with Captain Archangel and amigo, Dave Asman, from Chicago, they got limits of nice 20-30 pound yellowfin tuna “until our arms hurt” as well as a wahoo.

PHOTO 7: Eddy Bell holds two nice bull dorado from a day of fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet north of the city around the islands. Eddy is from Hacienda Heights CA.

PHOTO 8: The picture kinda speaks for itself. What a day! Robert and Toros Marganian from Lake Arrowhead CA jumped into a school of tuna that could be seen boiling from the shore in a frenzy. This kind of catch was not unusual this past week in what has been the best bite of the season for our fleet.

PHOTO 9: Every year these two brother get together for a fishing reunion in La Paz. They’re among our favorite Tailhunter amigos. They always get fish! On the left is Rod Brown fron Alaska. His brother, Jeff, on the right, lives in Minnesota! Over almost a week of fishing, the two brothers got an incredible variety of fish.

PHOTO 10: You’ve probably never seen one of these. I had never seen one either except when scuba diving. The locals call is a “mojarra.” It’s better known as a “porgy.” I”m told it’s great eating. Jeff Brown from Minnesota caught it.

PHOTO 11: Check out the quality of these yellowfin tuna we’re getting. Scott Brasier poses at Muertos Bay with these 35–30 pound sluggers that went raging this past week here. Scott was on his first trip with us and came all the way from the midwest.

PHOTO 12: The Sashime Club! The fish are barely in the boat and these guys usually have the wasabi and soy ready to go! Randy Nakayama, Derick Tagawa and Mark Kojima know how to eat them as well as put the tuna into the boat.

POSSIBLY THE BEST TUNA AND DORADO FISHING OF THE YEAR GOES BALLISTIC AS LA PAZ GOES ON HURRICANE WATCH!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 11-17, 2009

What a week! In between sporadic tropical showers, we had perhaps the best fishing of the season. Slugger-sized 25-30 pound tuna blew up on our panga fleet at Las Arenas/ Muertos in such a furious bite that on many days the boats were pulling off the school and headed back to shore at 9:30 or 10 a.m. in the morning or going out looking for something else to do because there was no more room in the panga fish boxes! At one point, I stood on the beach and I could actually see the fish foaming only about 100 yards off the beach with the bite only about 100-200 yards in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas.

The baits are really small and 20-30 pound test fluorocarbon leader with #1 hooks are the ticket using live or dead chunk baits, but you’d better hold onto your socks because a lot of the anglers weren’t ready for some of these fish. As one angler put it, “I’ve caught tuna before, but something about these fish has them ultra aggressive and put them on steroids or something because these fish do NOT quit!” Another angler said, “After two of these fish, I had to sit down, my arms were shaking. Stupid little 30-pound fish pull like no tuna I’ve ever run into.”

If you look at these fish, they’re just MUSCLE fish. Round, fat and feisty! They were fighting to the baits at times as if they hadn’t eaten…EVER! Just a blast!

On top of it, especially later in the week, it seemed that the dorado got tired of being second tier catches and moved right inshore with the tuna and the “dorado rodeo” went off with streaking dorado and hooked dorado surrounding all the boats. “Point-blank fish shooting” was how one of our Denver anglers described it. “I’ve never seen so many dorado flying around a boat. If the boats weren’t plugged with tuna, they were topped off with dorado! (Many were released and the flyfishers really had a blast!)

If anything else was biting, it was hard to know since everyone had jumped on the dorado or tuna schools. However, we did hook a few roosters (released) and three wahoo were hooked and lost.

FIRST PERSON REPORT

Thanks to our new amigo, Leo Bishop from Canada who took the time to write this:

“What a day !! we had only one day remaining on our vacation with so many things left to see and do. Jonathan went out of his way to “customize” a trip package for us that included fishing in the morning and snorkeling in the afternoon. We knew the weather was calling for rain, but we sucked it up and went anyway. By the time we had our eyes open, thanks to the free morning coffee, we had already loaded up with live bait and had lines in the water. 5 minutes later, bang-bang !! double hook ups on some nice sierra. After playing them in we moved about a half mile to a new location and dropped or live bait rigs over the stern and began slow trolling. Over the next 3 hours we boated 5 nice Dorado, lost 3, and landed numerous bonita. We didnt, even have a chance to notice the rain……………who cares ? Fighting fish is a great way to stay warm !! In fact just as the bite subsided a little, so did the rain. We reluctantly reeled up our gear and headed out to the snorkelling area. As we cruised along we agreed that even if the snorkelling was off due to the morning rain that we had already gotten our moneys worth, man we were blown away……we swam with huge sea lions, (they are very peacefull and non agressive) and their pups are so curious, a massive, mezmerising school of sardines, and spotted several species of large groupers including a rare golden grouper ! Long story short, we are so glad that we got out their despite the weather for a trip of a lifetime ! “

HURRICANE WATCH FOR “RICK”

As I write this, we’re watching Hurricane Rick form off the Baja Peninsula. We thought storm season was all over, but this one surprised us and could be headed our way by Wednesday or Thursday. We feel badly for all the folks who may have to cancel or postpone their fishing trip with us. If there was any way to foresee this or wave a magic wand, we would! For updates, click this: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/ep200920.html

TAILHUNTER VIDEO CLIP

I know I always used to post a weekly video clip, but we’ve had some technical difficulties this season. However, here’s a good roundup of some of our hot bite the last few weeks. Click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_g-jI-RJ0k

TAILHUNTER GRILL AND FUBAR CANTINA MAKES TRIP ADVISOR

We made Trip Advisor after only 5 months! Check it out: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g150771-La_Paz_Baja_California.html

If any of you have been with us and partied or dined and want to add a report, that would be great.

Have a great week! Hope we stay dry down here!

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 a bad way to start a fishing trip. We’ve moved the pangas over to Muertos Bay and after a slow start because of winds, late in the week the bite finally turned on. Posing with a portion of their catch are Johnny Doumas, Jay Sanchez, Leo Avakian, Avo Agourian, Armen Minissian, Sam Henne and Paul Sipplian. The sailfish was an accidental catch by Avo (center). He was fishing a Megabait just jigging it for bottom fish and on the way down, he felt a hit. Suddenly, the rod blew up and he realized he had accidentally snagged a sailfish ON THE BACK! He had to fight it and while doing so, his partner (Armen) caught 2 yellowfin tuna. Avo was going to release the sail, but it came in dead having been dragged backwards. It was donated to the pueblo. Note the solid size of the yellowfin tuna! They’re only about 200 yards off the beach.

PHOTO 2: Here’s another great story. Dan Fink from northern California has been coming to Baja for over a doezen years trying to catch a wahoo. He brought his sister, Julie with him this year. They weren’t even at the wahoo grounds (which haven not produced in about a month!). They were in the middle of the tuna bite. Mary was fishing a little sardine on light line (with NO wire!). She gets bit and wham…wahoo on! She hooks it right in the corner of the mouth with a little #2 live bait hook! It gets better. This was Mary’s first time fishing on the ocean. They also got a number of yellowfin tuna as well as pargo.

PHOTO 2: One of our most successful anglers each year, Steve Greanias and his dad, Chris, show off a couple of nice yellowfin tuna and a handful of dorado. Steve also had on a big roosterfish that he fought and came unbuttoned.

PHOTO 3: Johnny Doumas holds up a sample of the nice grade of yellowfin tuna we have biting now out of Muertos Bay with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. The fish are ranging from 15-35 pounds and are from the lighthouse down towards Cardonal. Live and dead sardines fished with a small hook and flurocarbon leaders are a plus.

PHOTO 4: Dorado are biting right now, but not many of the big bulls we’re accustomed to this time of year. However, Fred Roupp, Jr. and Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet pose with a 33-pound dorado they caught north of La Paz. This was our largest dorado of the week.

PHOTO 5: With Muertos Bay shimmering in the background, Captain Pancho with Jay Sanchez and Leon Sipplian on their first trip to fish with us hold up a handful of fat yellowfin tuna.

PHOTO 6: Two of the funnest guys who show up each year, Toros and Robert Marganian took time off from their plumbing business to pull on a few nice yellowfin tuna this week. The smaller sardines are working well on these fish. They were lockjawed early in the week when the winds were blowing, but came on stronger as the week went on.

PHOTO 7: All smiles, Johnny Wong and Tim Armstrong from Pasadena CA fished earlier in the week with us when we were still launching off Las Arenas Beach. Nice handful of YFT. They were fishing with Captain Victor.

PHOTO 8: Dr. Bruce Dodge from La Canada CA hit full limits of yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Jorge and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Cerralvo Island and Ventana Bay in the background. Bruce organized the annual Catholic Big Brothers & Big Sisters Charity Event and fund raiser with us and 3 days of fishing.

PHOTO 9: Sneaking away from his last year at Humboldt State College to get in some fishing, Andrew Campbell and mom Kirsten from Boise ID braved some strong winds and rain and still put some excellent fish in the panga. In addition to yellowfin tuna they also caught dorado over a quick weekend of fishing before Andy had to scoot back to class.

PHOTO 10: Dan Rubendall came down with the big group from Catholic Big Brothers and Big Sisters charity event and tournament and almost got big fish of the day with this bull dorado he caught in the channel between the Arenas lighthouse and Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 11: You gotta love the unconventional. Rob Pinkerton and Mike Delaney pose with their catch of yellowfin tuna while playing in the sand. Mike…thanks for that pole dance at our TAILHUNTER BAR! We have it on video!

PHOTO 12: They always do well. Manny Avila and Tony Avila holding some of their catch this week of tuna and dorado. Thanks for the “Venturi wine pourer” guys. It works great!

WINDY WEATHER AND SPOTTY FISHING FINALLY GIVE WAY TO SUNSHINE AND SOLID BITE…MAYBE BEST TUNA BITE OF THE YEAR!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 4-10, 2009

There were times early in the week where I was really pretty nervous. That bad weather cell that came through last week and dumped a bunch of rain on us and wouldn’t go away without spitting out the occasional shower finally gave way to sunny skies. That was the good part. The bad part is that behind the storm we got several days of incredible north winds. It’s certainly NOT what we’re’ accustomed to this time of year. I mean…it was ROUGH! We actually had some folks queasy which is pretty rare! One day, the captains didn’t even want to go out and it delayed us getting out.

That’s not too good when you’re doing a lot of topwater fishing. I felt badly for our flyfishers and some of our light tackle guys.

On top of it, the fish got squirrelly too! It was a pick bite at best. Normally, we’re going full turbo in October.

Anyway, as the week went on the winds calmed and …SURPRISE…the bite got better. Dorado finally decided to wake up and join the party although we’re not seeing a lot of the big bulls of fall. Most of the fish are the smaller 5-20 pounders. They can be found pretty much anywhere right now, but a lot of guys (and gals) come down this time of year expecting the big horses and they just haven’t been very prevailant this year. Live baits, of course, work well, but stripped dead bonito really get ‘em going. One thing we did find…there’s another good use for the pesky needlefish!

One of our captains…Boli…with our La Paz Fleet got resourceful and started using long strips of the silvery needlefish and slow trolling it behind the panga. Within 5 minutes…HOOK UP!!! He’s been doing it all week and getting dorado. Best of all…the other needlefish don’t attack it. I guess there’s finally something they won’t eat!

Besides the dorado, the best part of the bite later in the week took place with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Because of the north winds we moved the fleet over to Muertos Bay. When the bite turned on, we got…well…look at the photos above! Tuna…wahoo…sailfish…as well as pargo, marlin…roosterfish…cabrilla…snapper…sierra…and others. Great variety! However, the tuna bite really want off-the charts! At times, you could see the tuna foaming if you were standing on the shore as the fish were really that close! Boiling 20-30 pound tuna blowing up on the baits and every rod in every panga double bendo! On one day, our pangas were back on the beach by 11 a.m. with the guys telling me that by 10:30 they had limits of tuna and could have gotten more. Hope this sticks around! Several nights we vacuum packed over 200 bags of fish for our anglers.

Weather has cooled tremendously. It’s great. After a season of 5 months of some of the hottest weather any of us can remember with almost every day over 100 degrees with roaring humidity, it’s now about 85…sunny…and really “Chamber of Commerce” weather! But keep an eye…possibly more rain on the way this week!

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.”