Tailhunter Fish Report

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.”

PHOTO 1: Marissa Rendall from Hermosa Beach CA shows off the two main fish we caught all week…dorado and yellowfin tuna. This was Marissa’s first time fishing and she enjoyed the tuna sashime we made for her at the Tailhunter Bar that evening. She was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and Capt. Pancho.

PHOTO 1: Megan Premoe from Washington State was on her first ocean-fishing trip as well as her first trip to La Paz. She made no bones about telling folks she was going ot catch the largest fish! Well, take a look at this estimated 60-pound toad yellowfin tuna. Not only did she catch this fish, but she pulled it in herself even though the fish was TAIL-WRAPPED making it almost impossible to turn and double-hard to bring in! She got this fish on live bait at the north end of Cerralvos Island.

PHOTO 2: Captain Adolfo (“Yofo”) poses with San Diegans Steve Vargo and Robert Thoma and 6 of their yellowfin tuna. The guys came back to the beach at 10:30 a.m. I thought something was wrong, but they told me, “Hey…we’re just tired! My arm is tired! This is plenty of fish!” Good reason. The fish ranged from 15-20 pounds and popped up just off the beach between the old Hotel Las Arenas and the Arenas lighthouse.

PHOTO 3: He’s become one of our poster-guys. This our amigo, Don Melucci and Tony Gabriola who got into the tuna and broke off a few as well using light tackle. These were nice fat fish in the 20-pound class and eat the smaller sardine baits.

PHOTO 4: The catch…a nice rooster caught by Terry Biggs this week…that’s one good part. (see below)

PHOTO 5: The best part…THE RELEASE! Captain Jorge releases Terry’s roosterfish to fight another day. Bravo to all.

PHOTO 6: Dorado are still the mainstay for our La Paz fleet. The fish are holding in several areas and these nice fish are typical of those held by Richard Keogh and Jim Davis from Northern Cal. Live bait and stripped pieces of bonito work best.

PHOTO 7: It’s only October, but we got ALOT of sierra this week. Normally, these are cold water fish that show up around November or December and hang out during the winter. However, there were a few days when you could catch as many as you wanted. These are great eating fish and fantastic on light tackle. If you wanted to go no further than stay in La Paz Bay all day, you could nail limits of sierra in short order. Jim Davis holds a pair.

TUNA AND DORADO MIX-IT-UP FOR SOME STEADY FISHING

La Paz/ Las ARenas Fishing Report for the Week of September 20-27, 2009

Overall, a pretty solid week of fishing here highlighted by the re-appearance of schools of 15-30 pound tuna right off the the beach near Las Arenas, near the old hotel as well as in front of Muertos Bay. Another school of larger fish in the 30-60 pound class showed up and busted up the anglers at the north end of Cerralvo Island. It made for some good catches.

However, the mainstay fish continued to be dorado. There were small fish in the 10 pound class, but some nicer 20-30 pound models with sprinklings of thelarger 30-40 pound bulls. The dorado were scattered in numerous spots all the way south from Punta Pescadero to the north end of Espiritu Santo Island. No one particular place seemed to be the hot spot. You could encounter dorado pretty much anywhere. Sometimes you would dink and scratch for a few fish here and there or you could blank all day then at the 11th hour run into a nice school willing to go on the wild chew and all hell would bust loose!

A few billfish were hooked and either released or lost. No wahoo to speak of. However, late-season roosterfish and pargo are still in the shallows with some of the roosters bring trophy-class 50-90 pound fish. Squid pop up for a day then disappear. No real trend to speak of with the big squirters. Everyone is getting fish is the bottom line. Even for the light tackle guys…small roosters, jacks, sierra, pompano and snapper can keep you busy all day long!

AUCTION FOR JACK VELEZ

We wanted to thank all of you who reached out and bid for the two custom rods that were being auctioned off for the family of Jack Velez.

The Whopper Stopper Mini rod went to Art Savedra of Las Vegas for $300.

The Seeker bait stick was won by Richard Winslow for $275.

You guys who kept up the lively bidding are awesome. Ed Robison of Whopper Stopper Rods http://whopperstoppers.976-tuna.com/

and Vic Ochoa who wrapped the Seeker blank, you also rock. Thanks, amigos!

In fact, just to bring you up-to-date, money for the family continues to trickle in. In a few weeks, the season will slow down and we plan to have a memorial dinner for Jack and will surprise the family with a check as well as a card with everyone’s names who donated. You’re the best! Mil gracias por todo!

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: THIS IS THE KIND WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Bigger yellowfin tuna popped up at the north end of Cerralvo Island this week that bent rods, back and stamina! Brian O’Neill took down this 60 pound class toad yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Adolfo and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet . It was a long run to the north island, but it paid off in some of the largest tuna of the year.

PHOTO 2: What a week for Leif Dover who rolled in all the way from Atlanta GA . He booked 6 straight days of hardcore fishing just to catch a single roosterfish. He got a 35, 45, 50 and this fish estimated at 80-85 pounds. All the fish were released. He also go tuna and dorado on the week as well. The big roosters bit live ladyfish trolled behind the boat.

PHOTO 2: The man behind the fish is first-timer, Brian Meier, from Oregon hit this big boy on his first day fishing out of Las Arenas with Captain Adolfo. Estimated at more than 65 pounds (by the captain), it was caught off the Las Arenas lighthouse area and was released after the photo. It was a good week for the big roosters and most of them were caught fishing with our Captain Adolfo (Yofo).

PHOTO 3: Ladies Day! On the beach is Jillene Roldan of La Paz (tuna) , (Mom) Janille Todd from Spring Valley CA celebrating her birthday in La Paz (dorado): Captain Jorge holding jack crevalle; and “Lucky” (Auntie) Maryann Hendren from San Diego (tuna). There was a nice mix of fish out’ve Las Arenas all week.

PHOTO 4: Nice sized football tuna held up by John Brown from Eugene OR and Ray Miklich from Pueblo CO, holds a dorado. Most anglers this week took home a nice mixture of tuna and dorado. Most of the tuna were caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 5: Quentin Abramo and Mike Koontz were on their first trip to La Paz this past week and hold up a few of the yellowfin tuna that poked up off Cerralvo Island a a few other spots this week.

PHOTO 6: Never too late to start! This is Frank Burgess from Kansas City. First time ever on the ocean. He showed ’em how it’s done and ran circles ar0und some of the other anglers here holding up just one of his fish. Frank came with his son Allen Burgess, who is one of our regulars. They fished 5 straight days and Frank just keep rolling…never getting tired!

PHOTO 7: Just an incredible shot of a marlin. This is John Chase’s striped marlin just after being hooked south of Muertos Bay. You won’t get many special shots like this with full action!

PHOTO 8: Charlie Gibson is actually really happy to have cuaght his nice female dorado fishing with Captain Chito and our La Paz fleet north of La Paz. The dorado fishing got better as the week went on. Stripped pieces of dead fresh bonito worked best to get the fish to charge the pangas.

PHOTO 9 : In this job one of the best things is that we get all kinds of folks. It’s what makes it fun. Jess Franco never has a dull moment. He came in with a big group of retired firefighters this past week and came down to the pool at La Concha Beach Resort wearing a bikini top. He proceeded to walk around the pool sending mothers and small children scurrying away!

PHOTO 10: Steve Linenberger retired from years working for CBS Sports and loves Harley’s and fishing. He got into our nice tuna bite earlier in the week. He holds a couple he nailed off Las Arenas near the old hotel.

GOOD WEEK OF FISHING HIGHLIGHTED BY 60-POUND TUNA and BIG ROOSTERFISH

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 13-20, 2009

It looks like we’re finally back on track. Steady to good fishing for our La Paz fleet for dorado ranging in size from 5-40 pound fish.

The schools are scattered north of the city all the way from Las Cruces to the gap between the islands then on the west side of Espiritu Santo near Isla Ballena across the bay all the way over to San Juan de la Costa in front of the mining town. Quite a few smaller fish, but cruiser bulls seemed to join the party as the week went on. The better fishing came on our pangas that were able to get big bonito in the morning and use the carcasses or strips of bonito to chum up the schools to the boat or entice a bite on the troll then get the fish to bite on flylined sardines. Not a bad idea, if you’re coming down to bring some hoochies to small tuna feathers to catch bonito. The faster you get your bonito, the faster to the fishing grounds.

The big news for our Las Arenas fleet was the appearance of larger tuna. Over the course of the week, 10-15 pound footballs had teased the fleet with our pangas getting 2-5 fish each from various spots around Espiritu Santo Island mixed in with some dorado, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra. Late in the week, 30-60 pound fish showed up at Northern Cerralvo that really tore into the anglers. These were bigger grumpier fish and fishermen had their hands full and rods bent! Only problem is that it’s a long boat ride from Las Arenas Beach all the way up along the side of the island to get the fish, but no one complained once they came back with those big fillets!

By the way, waters must be getting cooler! We’re getting alot of sierra all of a sudden. Normally, we run into sierra when the waters are cooler and generally not until November so, but some boats ran smack into schools of these toothy guys.

As a side note…roosterfish are still here, over 6 days of fishing, Leif Dover and Brian O’Neill specifically came to chase roosters. They posted smaller fish, but tallied an 85 pound beast as well as a 35, 45m 59 abd 65- pound fish that were all released.

FACEBOOK

Last week, I told you that I started posting up daily reports on FACEBOOK under my name, JONATHAN ROLDAN. However, I didn’t know that we already had an account under TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL. So, if you’d like to check out DAILY reports, get on as a fan of TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL on FACEBOOK. Over the past two weeks, I”ve posted photos and items about the fishing and our Tailhunter Bar that may not necessarily make it onto the weekly fishing report.

JACK VELEZ FUND

At this time, we have bids on the two custom rods offered to raise funds for the family of Jack Velez. On the mini-Whopper Stopper rods, we have a current bid of $140. On the Seeker bait stick, we have a current bid of $70. If you’re interested, we’ll hold the auction open for one more week. Just send me an e-mail to riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

Have a great week!

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: Arizona resident, John Chase, came down to dive and fish with us and put this pretty bull dorado in the panga fishing with Captain Pancho and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Great colors and a great photo. Dorado were on-again-off-again, but some spots produced limits or near limits. It changed from day-to-day.

PHOTO 2: Just another fantastic dorado photo that really shows out the colors of one of the prettiest fish in the water. Paul Mohklenbuhr is a retired firefighter from the Sacramento CA area and he put the hurt on this nice bull dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and Captain Jorge.

PHOTO 3: Yes…we got some tuna this week. Early in the week, Dave Bean got one of the teaser football tuna that kept popping up and then disappearing while fishing south of Cerralvo Island. There were some larger 40-50 pound fish lost. Late in the week, some 30 pounders showed up schooling and got everyone excited. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be going full turbo on the nicer grade of fish. That’s Todd Rudaitis with his back to the camera on another fish!

PHOTO 4: Might be one of the larger dorado of the week when big fish weren’t real common so you’d think Aaron Hamilton would be smiling. But, he said it was hard to hold up! Normally, Aaron goes after his game and fish with a bow since he works for Martin Archery. He caught this nice bull north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and Captain Raul.

PHOTO 5: This is our gal, Jessie Pfost, who just moved to Las Vegas after just graduating from college. She came down and spent a week with us putting up not only with her two parents, but hurricane Jimena as well that put a damper on her vacation. However, once the sun came out, things got better. She got this bull dorado off Punta Coyote and then came back and her boyfriend, Brian Reid, proposed to her! She got a ring and everything! Congratulations, Jessie!

PHOTO 6: Ed Janas spent years coming down to Baja trying to catch “just one roosterfish” unsuccessfully. We sent him to the east side of Cerralvo Island where he slammed and released over a dozen roosters as well as dorado, pargo and other species all on light tackle! Notice how close they are to the island. All the fish were caught on live bait and released…except the dorado…which they brought back to the Tailhunter Bar for dinner!

PHOTO 7: Here’s another one of Dave Bean with a dorado he hung just south of Muertos Bay where he and Todd Rudaitis (battling his own fish) got limits earlier in the week.

PHOTO 8 : Sarah Hamilton from Washington State wanted us to adopt her. She didn’t want to leave after spending 3 days fishing and 2 days finishing up her open water PADI dive certification. We sure enjoyed her and her husband, Aaron. Sarah was a gamer…she could fish and dive all day and loved the Tailhunter mai tais at night. She loves the outdoors and is an accomplished bow hunter.

PHOTO 9 : Still swinging it’s tail, this big bull dorado wants to smack Pete Hansen from the San Francisco Bay area. Pete was fishing north of La Paz and got this fish on live bait. Best bait all week for the larger fish were strips of dead bonito trolled behind the boat to get the fish near then dropping a live sardine back onto them.

PHOTO 10: When Pete Hansen told me he was coming down with Sam Hansen, I figured he was bringing his son or his brother. It was his lovely wife “SAMANTHA.” Fishing with Captain Joel, she shows off one of her dorado she just gaffed.

FISHING ALL OVER THE PLACE FROM SLOW TO EXCELLENT AS AREA RECOVERS FROM STORM BUT EVERYONE GETTING FISH!

La Paz / Las ARenas Fishing Report for week of Sept. 6-12, 2009

A bit of a mixed week down here. At first, I thought that the hurricane hadn’t done much to us and on the surface, the waters and conditions seemed amazing. It wasn’t turned over or muddy or full of debris as is normal after a storm. Fish were still around. However, as the week went on, the bite got a little more spotty…a little more scratchy. Everyone got fish. The dorado are still bending the rods, but the fish seemed to move around a lot. They weren’t schooling up like normal. We had to work harder to find them and keep them around. One area could be red-hot on day and stone cold the next without even a bonito around. Like I said, it just meant we had to hunt a little harder. Dorado were the mainstay with fish about 10-20 pounds on the average, but larger fish showing up later in the week in the 30-40 pound class.

We did notice one thing. If you could get bonito early in the morning and use them for strip bait, you had the btter shot at gettting the larger dorado, especially for our La Paz fleet anglers. The dorado wouldn’t necessarily bite the bonito bait, but it would draw them in then you’d feed them back a live sardine and WHAM! By the way, weather is great…mid-90’s but it can be windy and rough in the morning so if you’re coming down, keep that in mind! Some guys got a little queasy.

One FLASH!

We did get a few tuna from our Las Arenas fleet. The fish were 10-15 pounds, but two larger fish estimated at 40-50 pound by our captain were lost. Then, late in the week…we hit a school of 30-40 pound fish that put the hurt on a few guys! (That’s why you come down here, right?). Anyway, hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be into a regular tuna bit. I’ll keep you posted.

As well, we had a few marlin and sails come up. No calamari or wahoo to speak of, but we had some anglers who wanted to fish inshore and had an outstanding time on roosterfish, pargo, cabrilla and other rock fish with non-stop action.

NFL and COLLEGE BALL at the TAILHUNTER BAR

Just an FYI that we have NFL! It’s great to finally come into a season and have 7 flat screens carrying all the college and NFL games. Whooo-hoooo!!! After 15 years here to finally be able to watch AMERICAN football and have all our friends and guests and clients over with cold cerveza and good food is incredible for Jill and I.

We had on the USC vs. Ohio State game last night and were packed. Right now as I write this, we’ve got NFL on all the flat screens going and tomorrow night a double-header for Monday Night Football.

Also, we now have Tecate Beer Co. aboard. We’re excited because that brings us Tecate, Dos Equis, Indio and Sol Beer. We’ve been carrying all the Pacifico line…Corona, Corona Light, Pacifico, Pacifico Light, Bud and Bud Light, Estrella, and Modelo Dark and Modelo Light ON TAP in ice mugs!

Oh…and we also started serving breakfast as well and it’s been a big hit. We’ve got the best pancakes and huevos rancheros on the waterfront! And we plan to add chicken wings and sushi rolls to the menu this week too!

FACE BOOK

If you FACEBOOK Jonathan Roldan, I’ve started to be a little better. I’m going to be posting almost daily with little snippets that might not show up in the regular fishing report. All week, I’ve had mini-fishing reports and photos as well as things going on at the TAILHUNTER BAR. If you comment, I probably will not be able to respond to everyone, but will try. Don’t be offended if I don’t! But, I know many of you die-hards like to know almost daily what’s going on so I figured I’d better get better at FACEBOOK.

JACK VELEZ MEMORIAL FUND

Thank you to so many of you who donated to the fund for the family or our friend Jack Velez who passed away earlier this summer. The response has been fantastic. Money is still trickling in and at the end of the season, we plan to do a surprise memorial dinner for Jack for the family and present them with a check and a card with everyone’s names on it.

To that end…we have to great amigos who have donated their services to the cause

1. Ed Robison of Whopper Stopper Rods http://whopperstoppers.976-tuna.com/

and the famous mini-rod, has put one of his custom sticks up for auction. Starting price for the auction is $140.

2. Victor Ochoa, our long-time amigo, has also put up one of his custom sticks. It’s a 7′ Seeker stick double wrapped in blue. Starting bid is $75.

I”ll hold these open for 2 weeks. Write me directly at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com if you have a bid and which rod you are bidding on. If someone tops your bid, I will write you back. The bidding starts Sunday, Sept. 13. Thanks for all your good thoughts!

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: 044-612-14-1786

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: Here it comes! It’s getting angry out there…Hurricane Jimena starts to roll into Baja.

PHOTO 2: I don’t have photos of La Paz during the hurricane because there was nothing really to take pictures of…moving palm fronds? Puddles of water? This, on the other hand, is Cabo San Lucas which dodged a bullet ,but still got some heavy winds and rains as well as big surf since it faces the open ocean, unlike La Paz.
Thanks to Bil Pulford for the photos.

PHOTO 3: Dave Duenas from Rialto CA took time off from his police work and got in some good fishing for dorado before the storm hit. He got this nice bull fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter Fleet.

PHOTO 4: Two of our best amigos who visit us yearly, Steve Huth and Billie Nash from the Glendora area new Los Angeles CA hold up an excellent “variety” of fish they caught earlier in the week fishing with our Tailhunter Las ARenas fleet. Steve holds up a barred pargo and roosterfish (the smaller ones taste pretty good). Billie hangs onto a handful of dorado and a pompano.

PHOTO 5: Sunny Chung from Santa Clarita CA is also a police officer and got into a really nice snap of dorado fishing with our Captain Chito with our La Paz fleet. Before the storm, the dorado bite had just started to pick up.

PHOTO 6: Eileen Dann from Los Angeles got a nice batch of dorado and here holds up a prized barred pargo mulatto.

FISHING INTERRUPTED BY HURRICANE JIMENA ALTHOUGH LA PAZ ESCAPES SERIOUS DAMAGE

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for week of Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, 2009

Not much to show you in the way of fishing this week. We spent most of the week in lockdown as Hurricane Jimena ran towards us with Category 4 written all over it. We taped windows, hoarded water and flashlight batteries and sandbagged our building and got ready to get slammed. And at the last minute it veered north of us and thankfully, hit us with only about 2 ½ days of intermittent rain and some strong winds doing little damage and only localized flooding. I think we dodged a big bullet! But, it also kept us off the water for 3 days.

Prior to the storm, the dorado bite had picked up nicely and I’m anticipating that once the water settles the dorado will come back strong given all the junk that gets washed into the ocean from storms. At the time of writing, we’ve been back on the water for two days and the waters are still a bit turned over and murky. It’s gonna take a bit for it to settle down and clear up because there’s still some residual chop. However, we did find some dorado up to about 20 pounds and normally that gets better assuming no other fronts come through. Looking at the forecasts, it looks like great conditions on tap.

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: Sheryl Lucero doesn’t have many oceans in New Mexico where she’s from but got out on the water with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and got this nice dorado not too far offshore on live bait.

PHOTO 2: From San Francisco area, Shannon Aurand and her husband got 10 different species of fish over 3 days of fishing. Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet help with gaff duties on a feisty yellowfin tuna. This past week, they ranged from 10-30 pounds.

PHOTO 3: My dive buddy from San Luis Obispo CA, Anthony Reynolds got into a nice snap of dorado fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. He just racked this nice bull but buddy , Bob, pumps one to the boat in the stern.

ANGLERS AND CAPTAINS WORK HARD FOR THEIR FISH AS DARK MOON PHASE SEEMS TO HAVE SLOWED THE BITE THIS WEEK…OR SOMETHING…IT WAS DEFINITELY OFF…

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 23-29, 2009

PHOTO 1: Wahoo went on the chew again this week! South end of Cerralvo Island held most of the fish. Here’s one that chased down a Rapala pulled by Jeff Sakuda of Monterey Park CA. Captain Jorge shares the smiles.

PHOTO 2: Professional hunting dog trainer, Steve Artis from N. California looks pained, but he was pretty happy with this fat wahoo he got his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. That’s Captain Victor hiding behind him.

PHOTO 3: Again with Captain Jorge! This time assisting Shannon Aurand from the San Francisco Bay area with her first wahoo she pulled on the troll. The fish showed a definite affinity for dark Rapalas this week.

PHOTO 4: All the way from New York, this is Arie Hendeles. Arie took a break from school like he does each summer to fish with us. This is one of several wahoo he put on the boat.

PHOTO 5: Yes, the yellowfin tuna also bit and they also got bigger too! Rod’s yellowfin was taken just off Las Arenas. The fish ranged from 10-30 pounds this week and crashed the live baits.

PHOTO 6: Bill White from San Luis Obispo is a fireman and he had sashime and sushi in mind for dinner as he holds up two of his yellowfin tuna he got fishing with our Las Arenas fishing fleet.

PHOTO 7: “Three Chicas and a Pancho!” Captain Pancho poses with Roseanne Ishihiro from Hawaii; Marianne Sugawara from Los Angeles and Karen Sakuda-Aizawa from San Franciso and their catch of dorado.

PHOTO 8: George is all smiles holding a bull dorado that might be our largest dorado of the week. George caugth this fish while fishing with Captain Victor and our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet. The fish fell for a live sardine.

PHOTO 9: Los Angeles resident Moise Hendeles got a cooler full of tuna fillets and added some great wahoo steaks to the catch with this fish.

PHOTO 10: First-timer, Ian Colbert from Belmont CA near San Franciso had a great first outting while fishing with us this past week. Here, he shows off a nice dorado he caught north of La Paz with our La Paz Tailhunter fleet.

PHOTO 11: Dave Tyree pulled this whopper dorado fishing on one of our super pangas with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet out of La Paz Bay. The dorado were hit or miss some days, but if you found the right spot, it could go nuts.

PHOTO 12: One of the most amazing action photos I’ve seen. If you’ve ever tried to take a shot of a leaping fish, you know how hard it is. Your eye, your brain, your finger and your camera just don’t work fast enough! Well, Steve Artis had everything lined up perfectly for this shot of a big bull dorado going ballistic and grabbing air while on the hook!

PHOTO 13: Not a bad day! Arie Hendeles from New York; Eli Hendeles and Jonathan Uretsky from Los Angeles do the group pose with wahoo and dorado. They had a banner few days with us taking wahoo, tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 14: Double fist tuna for Tom Aurand after fishing a day with our Las Arenas fleet. Tom comes from the San Francisco area and got into a nice snap of yellowfin tuna early in the week off the Arenas lighthouse area.

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA LEAD THE CHARGE AT LAS ARENAS WHILE DORADO KEEP LA PAZ ANGLERS BUSY (MOST DAYS).

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 16-24, 2009

Finally back on track after a little glitch the previous week. Not only did the dorado find their way back into the feeding mode, but even more importantly for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, the tuna and wahoo came back strong! Yellowfin tuna running 10-30 pounds bit nicely just off the beach inhaling live baits, dead chummed bait and iron. Light tackle anglers had a blast because the tuna were mixed in with even harder-charging bullish bonito and big skipjack so it was non-stop action between the 3 species. Limits were very common.

As well, and even more exciting, the wahoo made a strong comeback at the south end of Cerralvo Island along the rock highway. Two to four biters per boat were the average if you were pulling a big dark crank bait or wahoo rig. Quite a few fish were lost with bad hooksets and busted lines but boats were taking 1-2 wahoo in the 30-50 pound class.

Other species this week included a few marlin (released), roosterfish (most released) as well as some cabrilla, pargo and a nice jag of large pompano. Dorado ran 10-30 pounds on the average.

There were some slow spots and if you fished a few days you might have an off-day, but overall, it was a real good week of fishing with some anglers canceling (bad for us!) some of their trips later in the week because they had too much fish to take home after 2 or 3 days fishing! Glad to see guys releasing more and more fish and also more guys going to circle hooks as well. It wasn’t wide open, but the opportunities are there for some great catches right now.

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: Perhaps one of the largest dorado of the season, Captain Chito helps Steve McWhorter of Ventura with the big fish taken north of La Paz. Steve is 6′ tall and you can see that this fish is about that long. Captain Chito estimated the fish at about 60 pounds and was amazingly taken after a long battle on light tackle by Steve.

PHOTO 2: John Seidensticker of Huntington Beach CA fished with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and pulled in this nice bull dorado. The dorado bite at Las Arenas slowed this past week but tuna and wahoo picked up the slack.

PHOTO 3: Whittier CA resident Alan Cutler poses with another nice La Paz dorado he got north of town of Espiritu Santo Island. Live bait worked well this week, but many of this week’s larger fish were taken with strips of dead bonito.

PHOTO 4: It might not be the biggest fish picture, but it’s certainly my favorite of the week. Rebecca Waverly from Ventura CA was with us for the first time on her first fishing trip and fished with Captain Ramiro. The sheer exhuberance captured in this photo is priceless. We sometimes get so “hardcore” about our fishing we forget it’s supposed to be fun. Good job, Rebecca!

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA CRASH THE BOATS UNTIL SPEARFISHERMEN JUMP IN WATER AND SHUT OFF THE BITE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 9-15, 2009

We had a really nice wahoo and yellowfin tuna bite going on for our Las Arenas fleet the last few days the earlier half of the week. Guys were getting 2-5 bites on the skinnies per day and putting 1-2 in the boat. The wahoo ran up to about 50 pounds and were eating the big crank baits like Yozuri and Rapalas in the darker colors. As well, the yellowfin tuna popped up as well not far off the point. These were a fun grade of fish going 10-25 pounds.

All was good until freediving spearfishers dropped into the middle of the bites while the pangas were trying to fish. Incredible. Well, I do believe it and spearfishers wonder why they get such a bad rap here and get stinkeye from local captains…both commercial and sport captains and there has been open antagonism in the past and confrontations. Local commercial guys are trying to catch a few fish to feed their families. Panga captains are out there trying to put a few fish on the pangas for their clients.

A few jerk spearfishers screw it up for everyone and basically, they shut off the bite. It taints all spearfishers who show up. Word has it that some of them were using illegal gas-powered guns as well instead of the normal band guns. Nothing like little explosions underwater to put the lockjaw on the fish!

Additionally, they didn’t heed requests to go find other spots. The ocean is big. No reason to drop right in the middle of guys trying to make a living. Anyway, that surely screwed up the bite and hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

After that, the pickings the rest of the week were marginal at best with fishermen chasing a few dorado, a few tuna and inshore species like roosterfish, pargo and cabrilla. Like I said, hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

The dorado are still biting, however, for our La Paz boats. The bite has been pretty far-ranging from the outer banks all the way down the channel around Las Cruces. You might find a big school that makes your day or dink or single and double biters all day long, but limits or near limits were not uncommon for our boats. Live bait worked best, but catching a few bonito then using dead slabs on the troll drew fish to the boat.

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.”