Tailhunter Fish Report

PHOTO 1: Marianne Sugawara and Captain Jorge grin over another sierra coming over the side. Marianne is from Cypress CA and comes to La Paz several times a year. She says sierra are among her favorite eating fish as the sleek speedy toothy fish have now moved into the shallow areas and are making for

PHOTO 2: Here’s a good sample of some of the variety available right now. This is the catch by Amy and Belmond Mann who came down to celebrate their anniversary with us. On the right are several nice sierra; then a pompano and a dorado. They also got a couple of wahoo the day before!

PHOTO 1: Some of the best light tackle fishing to be found. This is a sierra. Think of a baby wahoo. Fast and voracious with razor sharp teeth, these fish school up in shallow areas and along ridges as the waters cool down. They’ll hit anything shiny or that moves across them and will attack without hesitation. Wire is a good thing to have on your lure. They also make incredible eating and have a reputation for making the best ceviche and taste like they were basted in butter when cooked. Jeff Sakuda comes down several times a year from Monterey Park CA and holds up a beautify.

DORADO START THE WEEK WHILE SIERRA AND CABRILLA COME ON STRONG AT THE END!

The La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Nov. 16-22, 2008

PHOTO 2: Now here’s a nice day of fishing. Check out the sierra and cabrilla (seabass) Story is below. This is Jeff Sakuda, Marianne Sugawara and popular Captain Jorge. This is the catch for 4 people. During the day they released as several dozen other fish as well. Most of these fish were caught mere yards from the beach.

PHOTO 3: Mark Martis from Redono Beach is another of our great amigos and regulars here. His wife is gonna love him for hugging this giant squid to his clothes that she’ll be washing! The big squid were here early in the week again. Captain Victor stands nearby.

PHOTO 4: Andrew Lindsay from Yorba Linda was on his first trip to see us with his dad and younger brother and hung this great looking dorado as well as several other species. The dorado were abundant and eager early in the week, but tapered off later in the week.

PHOTO 5: Miyako Ito and Captain Victor hold up a little roosterfish caught near Muertos Bay. Despite the lateness of the season, the waters are still warm and roosters are still along the beach. This was Miyako’s first trip with us and the rooster was released.

PHOTO 6: A rather disappointing photo. This is the front of Hotel Los Arcos all boarded up. See the details below. It was shut down late this week by a labor strike.

PHOTO 7: NO, this isn’t fishing, but I just had to post this up. Jim Allen is 700 feet ABOVE the Los Angeles downtown. Ever wonder about those guys who operate those giant cranes at construction sites for skyscrapers waaaaay up there? Looks like he’s in an eenie-meenie tower? Well, Jim was up there reading our La Paz fishing reports and blog and decided to send me an e-mail to tell us he was enjoying reading on the job 700 feet up in the sky! To prove it he sent this photo taken with his cell phone camera! Thanks, Jim!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Check out the on-the-water-action. Turn up the sound. Check out out flat the waters are. Only yards from the beach. Hard to believe this is actually ocean fishing. Click this:

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

THE FISHNG REPORT

It’s been pretty nice all week. Breezes are up, but overall a pleasant time to be on the water or in town. Actually, town seems almost deserted at times as we hit that lull between the end of the fishing season and the beginning of the holidays. This is a great time to be almost the ONLY boat on the water at the fishing holes!

This past week, dorado continued to bite although the better bite for us were the spots closer inshore for our Las Arenas fleet. Limits or near limits of dorado between 10 and 15 pounds were hit a few days. Other days, it was a mix of dorado as well as inshore fish such as sierra, cabrilla and pargo. Some wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island and there were rumors of tuna at La Reyna.

As the week went on the bite got more stingy for the dorado, but whoa…all of a sudden we have cabrilla and sierra all over the place! Not kidding this is really fun fishing. During the week I went out with our good friends Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara fishing with Captain Jorge and probably had one of the best light tackle days I can remember in all my years here. See the photo above!

Seriously…I think we may have hooked and released almost 60 fish! It started with the bait catching…really small sardines…but we were waiting for the bait man to bring some over so Jeff and I started casting little crank baits and wham! We were on! Jeff put in 3 nice size cabrilla right off. I got one as well plus we released another 3 or 4 as well as released maybe 5 big ladyfish that were a hoot on my 6 pound test spinner.

Then, we moved around the beach past the Arenas lighthouse to Las Cucarachas in about 6 feet of water and the sierra just boiled. Double hook ups for Jeff and Marianne for several hours of slow trolling. We got over a dozen plus lost others and were bit off a few times as well. Moving over some rocky areas with the crank baits (Mirrolures and Yo-Zuri’s) we hooked cabrilla after cabrilla (seabass) and released almost all of them. Plus we got an amberjack or two as well. Best of all, not a needlefish in sight! I think we only caught one all day! Just a real kick inshore fishing!

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Several reminders:

1. Quite a few reservations for 2009 are already coming in. Good spots and your favorite captains are already getting their numbers called. We want to be able to get you dialed-in so get in touch with us. Once we start doing the fishing/hunting shows in January across the U.S., the reservations usually start rolling in pretty fast. Right now, Alaska flies down here Monday/ Wednesday/ Saturday. Several others fly out of Tijuana and are fast becoming favorites for many of our anglers. Ask us how to get that together.

2. The 2009 Whale Watching season as also coming up fast. Usually the best time to see these great creatures is January to March with February being optimal. Get right up next to these gentle giants over in Magdalena Bay. We can set this up for you.

HOTEL LOS ARCOS CLOSED BY LABOR STRIKE

Hotel Los Arcos has been closed as of Nov. 21 by a labor strike. See the photo above. Until further notice, one of the most popular hotels here in La Paz is closed. No idea how long this will take. It’s been boarded up and is guarded by union people. No one in. No one out. It’s a real shame.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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.”

DORADO STILL BITING BUT SEASON IS DEFINITELY CHANGING AND GETTING COOLER!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Report for week of Nov. 9-15, 2008

A mixed bag this past week for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. Air and water temperatures have been dropping and intermittent winds are indicative of the changing seasons. However, there’s still dorado about as well as the occasional billfish, wahoo and some tuna near the islands. Inshore fishing has been been good as well for pargo, cabrilla and the cooling waters have been producing more schools of sierra.

The better action…at least as far as dorado are concerned has been out of Muertos Bay with our Las Arenas fleet. Limits or near limits of fish were not uncommon which can be surprising this late in the season. However, the downside is that quite a few of the fish were smallish 5 to 15 pounders which we hope angler are releasing…especially the smaller females. But, you never know when one of the larger bulls comes through or you hit a school of the better quality fish!

In those same areas, not surprisingly, billfish are still being hooked although no one landed any. The sailfish and marlin are eating on the smaller dorado so either a live bait or trolling a dorado-colored lure in those areas, can result in some blind strikes. No one brought any to the boats this week because fishing the dorado on light line is a kick. But, not much use when suddenly a sailfish hits and you’ve got it on 15-pound test. But…still alot of fun…especially if you’re planning to release the billfish anyway.

As for other species, there’s still a few wahoo and tuna around near Cerralvo Island, but it’s really hard to know how concentrated the fish are. There’s not many anglers out these days to blanket all the spots. When the winds are blowing, as they are now with increasing regularity, it’s hard to hit the island anyway, but that dictates where and how you fish as well as whether you can get the right bait. But, if conditions are right and you’re feeling lucky, it’s worth checking out the island for the tuna and wahoo.

Inshore, more sierra, cabrilla, and pargo are showing up which is still great fishing even if the winds are blowing and keeping anglers of the more open water areas. Surprisingly, there’s still roosterfish along the beaches as well. It’s a nice time to be in La Paz or on the water. Not too warm. Not too cold. Very little traffic on the fishing holes!

2009 RESERVATIONS

It’s not too early to check dates for 2009 fishing in La Paz. As a matter of fact, we’re getting a surprising number of reservations coming in already for prime dates and your favorite captains as well as for certain rooms and condos. In a few weeks we start out on the road visiting our favorite cities in the United States with our 2009 Fishing and Outdoor Shows tour and the reservations start coming in hot and heavy. Give us a shout and let’s get you on the schedule for 2009.

WHALE WATCHING 2009

The 2009 Whale Watching Season starts up soon as well. January to March is prime time to get on the water and get close to the grey whales making their annual migration. By mid-February they’re here in full swing. It’s a lifetime event for the whole family. Give us a shout and we’ll set it all up for you…transportation, hotel, guides…and maybe even get in a day of fishing too!

LA CONCHA PEARL CONDOS

All season you’ve been asking me, “What is the new building on La Concha Beach?” Well, this past week I had the opportunity to tour the new La Concha Pearl, luxury condominium project with the developer, Dan Shore. It’s hard to put into words. I’ve been watching them put up the building now for two seasons and had never been over to the property. It’s hard to describe in just a few words.

The 33 unit, 90,000 sf building now under construction has construction components and features I have never seen in Baja. Dan, being in the business in San Jose, California wanted to make certain to bring the best materials, construction methods and safety programs from his industry managing high tech building construction for the clients of Silicon Valley.
Along with state-of-the-art systems, this building exceeds rigid California building and environmental codes and is the first LEED Registered building in all of Baja Sur. The Quadlock “foam forms” sandwiches cast-in-place concrete able to exceed the earthquake criteria for seismic zone 4 and hurricane category 5.

La Concha Pearl condos offer an incredible combination of efficiency and lower energy bills along with high quality and creature comforts for the unit owners.

The interiors are open and airy with large bathrooms, closets and kitchens. The outdoor living spaces are large and inviting with amenity and open spaces for BBQ, walk-up bar, twin spas and a raised terrace infinity edge pool, plaza and even a fire pit. The building features gated access with electronic security and CCTV, satellite TV and high speed internet. All this on one of the best swimming and snorkeling beaches in La Paz!

I really enjoyed my tour with Dan and have a great appreciation for quality projects like this!

If you’d like more info click this: info@LaConchaPearl.com

OTHER THOUGHTS FOR FLYING INTO LA PAZ

Recently, another airline servicing La Paz bit the dust. Alma Airlines, a Mexican line that came on the scene two seasons ago to great fanfare and great reviews looks like it has canceled it’s flights from Tijuana to La Paz. Along with good old Aero California, that’s two down this year. However, Avolar Airlines and Volaris Airlines from Tijuana to La Paz continue to do great service and an increasing number of our clients are finding that getting in and out of Tijuana from the border is a great way to go. There’s some inexpensive shuttles that will take you straight from San Diego to the Tijuana Airport and back. Additionally, because it’s not an international flight, you don’t have to go through all the security craziness. Write to us if you have questions!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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: After an absence of a few seasons, our buddy John Tessman from Fallbrook CA came down for an extended stay which was rewarded by possibly some of the larger dorado we’ve seen in a few weeks. This 35 pound class bull ate a slow trolled strip of dead bonito just east of Espiritu Santo Island east of La Paz.

WATERS IN TRANSITION ARE A BIT STINGY WITH FISH EARLY IN THE WEEK BUT GET MORE GENEROUS LATER IN THE WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Nov. 2, 2008

PHOTO 2: Early in the week, it was rough going, but some of the boats made it to the northern end of Cerralvo Island where an elusive tuna school with 25-pound class fish have been holding. Shown here (L-R) Tony Bretz, Captain Panchito, Bryant Bushman hold up a nice trio of yellowfin.

PHOTO 3: Jill Stevens now living most of the year in La Paz, was dragging a big sardine behind the panga and noticed a flash of color right off the transom and realized a nice dorado was lazily swimming behind the boat. It turned suddenly and whacked her sardine. Fish on!

PHOTO 4: Tony Bretz holds up one of the larger dorado taken out of Las Arenas/ Muertos early in the week. There weren’t many fish of this size and fishing seemed to be inconsistently biting. One day, they’d readily chew and the next day, you really had to work at it.

PHOTO 5: Hard to believe, but there’s still roosterfish along the beaches. Monique Wicks all the way from Alaska got this silver pez gallo just out of Muertos Bay and released it. The fish are in small schools along the beaches. Larger fish are roaming right on the edge of the drop offs.

PHOTO 6: Check out this nice yellowfin tuna. Our amiga, Cheryl Atkinson, does the honors. The fish was taken on bait at Punta Norte of Cerralvo Island. It’s almost a 2 hour ride up the channel from where we launch our boats at Muertos Bay…well worth it if the fish are there and the winds are down. If not, it’s a long rough and wet ride.

WEEKLY VIDEO

Some great on-the-water-shots this week of dorado fishing off the east side of Espiritu Santo Island just north of La Paz. Turn up the sound and click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrviCK5meFw

THE FISHING REPORT

The week started off full of questions as seasonal northern winds started up and roughed up the waters a bit. Bait got tough as well. Fish weren’t exactly very cooperative. Howver, as the week went on, things got more promising. Seas flattened a tad. Some tuna showed up at the north end of Cerralvo Island again. Larger dorado got more lively in the channel between the islands where even some of the smaller fish this week were twice as big as some of the largest fish we had the last few weeks. Cabrilla and even pargo and roosterfish got more active as well around our Las Arenas beaches as well. The season is definitely changing, but there’s still a lot of fish to catch.

You can feel things changing. We’re definitely in the transition right now. This is normal and it came a bit early this year. Sure is a lot of variety in terms of fish. Pretty much a little of everything is around. dorado are still the predominant species, but if you’re flexible, there’s quite a range.

WE MADE THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Well, one of our good amigos, Stacy Amos from Harbor City made the L.A. Times webpage. Click this and check it out: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/10/monstrous-squid.html Pete Thomas writes up a nice piece about the giant squid.

BOOKINGS FOR 2009

We’re already getting quite a few bookings for the 2009 season. Prime dates and our captains are still available, but some are already getting closed out. Give it some thought and get in touch with us as soon as you can. We want to make sure we take care of you and give you the first shot at your preferred dates!

That’s our story!

Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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: Yes! That’s right…YELLOWFIN TUNA! The north end of Cerralvo Island gave up a few teasing days of great tuna fishing early in the week with 20-25 pound fish crashing around the boats. Popular Captain Jorge holds up some fish with our good friends, Len and Cheryl Atkinson.

CHANGING NORTH WINDS AND UNSTABLE WATERS DAMPEN A SOLID BITE AND APPEARANCE OF TUNA!

La Paz Fishing Report for the Week of Oct. 19-25, 2008

PHOTO 2: Len Atkinson and Captain Jorge at North Point Cerralvo Island holding one of the yellowfin tuna that romped on the panga fleets early in the week. Our bait and flyfishers alike all got into the fish. Down below, deeper water amberjack also bit for anglers fishing further down the water column.

PHOTO 3: Stacy Amos from S.California poses with Captain Armando and one of the nicer grade bull dorado that are still roaming the waters outside of Punta Perico.

PHOTO 4: She likes NASCAR and fishing and now loves La Paz too! Becky Amos holds up a nice bull dorado taken close to shore on strips of fresh giant squid. This was Becky’s first trip down with us here.

PHOTO 5: Beast from the deep. The giant squid are still here although some days they seem to be deeper and deeper. This 50-pounder is about to be gaffed. We’re using chunks of these guys to slow troll for thd dorado outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 6: Our amigos from the heartland, Leroy Freeman and Al Burgess from Kansas had a pretty good week with over 10 species of fish caught including dorado like these.

PHOTO 7: Sure is a pretty fish. Tasty too. It’s a golden jack and also known as a palometa amarilla. Byron Tanaka from the Sacramento area does the honors. He and his guys spent the week flyfishing with us and got an assortment of fish including tuna, jacks, bonito, dorado and sierra on the flyrods fishing with Captains Loreto and Moncho.

PHOTO 8: From Utah, here’s the Gustafson family: Morgan, Debbie, Broc and Bill with a few handfuls of Las Arenas dorado.

THE FISHING REPORT

Well…we were kinda hoping we’d go out at the end of the season with a roar. It sure looked like it. However, mother nature is cruel and she had other ideas. Instead of a roar. We got a whimper as the week went on. Fish kinda went on strike!

Simply put, by the end of the week, we were struggling for fish as seasonal northern winds appeared to have started earlier this year. When they start blowing with regularity, things change. And I have a feeling that our blue water season may be coming to an end. We’ll have to see.

However, the week sure started nicely. Dorado, although not big, continued to bite pretty steadily for both our Las Arenas (Muertos Bay) and La Paz fleets. Most of the fish were 10-15 pounders. Hardly the big bulls we’re used to this time of year, but lots of fun, especially on the lighter tackle. Jacks and roosterfish were in the shallows as well. Some boats did better than others, but if you fished a few days, everyone got fish at some point. Not banner, but steady.

Then, we got the real bonus…tuna showed up at the north end of Cerralvo Island! Whoa…what a surprise. These were a nice grade of fish too…25 pound class sluggers! Light tackle and even our flyfishers got into the fish and had a blast getting beat up. In the same spot, some of those nice amberjack also came up too! We had those kinds of days when everyone literally came back to the beach looking trashed and bloody, but all with big grins. So we got pretty jazzed and figured we were finally on it…

Well, then the winds started up. They blew hard enough that it was almost impossible to get up to the spot again bucking against the north winds…unless you wanted to get soaking wet and/or get your teeth rattled out of your head!

And that was the bite…after that…with the winds blowing…even the dorado seemed to go ground and became about as scarce as chicken’s teeth. Really had to work for the fish the latter part of the week. Even the bonito seemed like they weren’t interested. I won’t kid ya. The last part of the week had lots of sunshine and that was almost about it.

I sure hope the winds don’t hang around. We’ll hope for the best this coming week. I’d like to run up for some of that tuna again.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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: Famlies that fish together. From the left…the first four are the Barker family (Matt, Al, Big Al and Diane). Next four…the Gustafson family (Bill, Morgan, Debbie and Broc). All are from the Salt Lake City UT area and were on their first trip down to visit us. As you can see, not a bad day of dorado fishing out of Muertos Bay. The fish they’re holding are fairly representative of the type of dorado we got all week.

RESIDUE FROM THE STORM – A HUGE FULL MOON – CHANGING WINDS PUT A TRIPLE WHAMMY ON THE FISHING BUT DORADO AND BIG SQUID FILL IN THE BLANKS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Report for the Week of Oct. 12-18, 2008

PHOTO 2: YEOW! Talk about first time outta the block! Justin Wick from Alaskas holds onto the big 250 pound black marlin he nailed out of La Paz on his first day of fishing. Captain Eddy Carballo (left) was driving the panga and holds up one of his lucky orange Crocs. Seems whenever Eddy scores big he is wearing his lucky Crocs! The funny thing is that this fish was caught on a little purple and black tuna feather while trolling for bonito to use for dorado bait. Justin fought the fist for over an hour. They were going to release it, but the fish died at the end.

PHOTO 3: Here’s out amigo, Al Barker again and his son Matt from Sandy, UT. Biggest dorado of the week he got on a chunk of slow trolled squid just outside of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 4: More long-distance amigos all the way from Kansas. In front is Al Burgess and behind him is Leroy Freeman. Both have been down numerous times and show off some of their first-day dorado. Leroy also got a marlin that day.

PHOTO 5: Rich Grigas from Northern California holds up a pair of dorado he got on bait that are fairly typical of some of the fish we were getting early in the week.

PHOTO 6: Diane and Al Barker get an assist from Captain Armando on the beach at Muertos with a couple of their dorado they got on their first day of fishing.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Check it out. Turn up the sound and click thelink!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrirRU5hPsA

THE FISHING REPORT

Kind of a quiet week around here. Quite a few folks for all the fleets canceled after so many flights canceled over the previous weekend from the hurricane (that turned out to be a woosie of a hurricane…lots of wind, but not much else). Anyway, not much traffic on the water.

I kinda think we got triple whammied this past week. I don’t put much stock in any of these things that happened if taken alone, but all three of them stacked up and I think it made a big difference in the fishing. First, as mentioned, we have the hurricane (which wasn’t much of one). Then, we had the biggest and longest full moon of the season. Then, the winds shifted from the north and started blowing and made things kinda rough. Put all those together and the fish were just outta synch!

What the hurricane did was turn up the waters around La Paz. It got rough AFTER the hurricane. In fact, the waters out of La Paz AFTER the hurricane were rougher than during the hurricane! Bright sunshine and warm conditions, but there were 4 foot waves in the bay! We did put out some the day after the hurricane but fishing was off as the waters remained brown and green.

So…

We had everyone fish out of Las Arenas instead most of the week. That’s the beneifit of Tailhunter having two fleets. We fished out of Las Arenas…well, Muertos Bay to be exact (we moved the boats back there to the cove)…and surprise! We got fish!

In fact, the area barely got touched by the storm! The big squid remained there right where we left them. There were dorado scattered around the mouth of the bay including a few nice bulls there then towards Punta Perico and the lighthouse which also kicked out more cabrilla and yellowtail. It wasn’t great gonzo fishing by any stretch, but everyone got fish. We had several families and first timers so by fishing them out of Las Arenas instead of La Paz, we were able to have a good time for all.

Some other surprises as well…yellowtail popped up off Punta Perrico! There’s been some strange happenings there this pas season. Yellowtail were there in the spring…big ones!!! But usually yellowtail are around when the waters are cold. However, there’s a bunch of bait stacked up there like squid, mackeral, caballitos and sardines. Commercial guys got some 20-30 pound yellowtail early in the week then some of our anglers got some 10 and 15 pounders. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Additonally, some tuna popped up briefly around the south side of Cerralvo. The elusive tuna came up and went down. We’ll keep track of that as well. Who knows! It’s been a weird season for species.

By the time you’re reading this, hopefully, the La Paz side fishing will have settled and the fish come back. Tune in for the next report!

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

“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 : Dog tooth pargo trophy! Chip Wickline was fishing with 30 pound test just off the Las Arenas lighthouse with Captain Archangel and looky what he caught! This massive dog-tooth snapper (pargo) also called a cubera snapper or pargo perro. Estimated at 50-70 pounds this huge guy tore into a chunk of bait. Most folks think that the spring is a good time for the pargo, but although it’s true we get the most fish during that time, we got the biggest ones in the fall.

HURRICANE NORBERT HALTS FISHING LATE IN THE WEEK BUT DOES LITTLE DAMAGE BUT BEFORE THAT BIG SQUID AND DORADO SCHOOLS KEEP ANGLERS HAPPY!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Oct. 5-11, 2009

PHOTO 2: Wade Gomes and Bill Moore from northern California area hold up two of the dorado they got fishing a day out of Las Arenas sch

PHOTO 3: One of the larger bulls that day, first timer Keith Kleppe hooked this guy working the dorado schools that have taken up residence between the Las Arenas lighthouse and Boca de Alamo.

PHOTO 4: Now appearing on “air dorado” playing “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, Joe Burkhart holds up an ice bull dorado taken south of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Dave Wakaybayshi’s guys from Southern California all hold up a nice quiver of dorado after a day of fishing at Las Arenas.

PHOTO 6: I teased Paul Dubow that he was holding his big roosterfish like a “loaf of bread” with an assist from Captain Gerardo, but he said, “When you’re 75-years-old you can’t be blamed for holding a big fish like that! Great catch from Paul. It was his first and he released it. The big roosters are still around this late in the season!

PHOTO 7: Captain Moncho (Raymond) poses with Ed “Sunny” De La Torre who spent 3 days flyfishing with us on his first trip down. He admitted he was a rookie on the flyrod but got numerous pompano, his first rooster and well as dorado on the flyrod and had a great time.

PHOTO 8: Willy Domingo from San Jose CA was trolling a plastic hoochie on the surface with 30 pound test line. No wire. When this wahoo bit, not 50 feet from the shore! As it was being fought, another wahoo twice the size swam around the boat eating chunked squid, but nothing with a hook. The wahoo was a great surprise. Sed Roldan of Hacienda Heights CA, cradles his prized barred pargo he caught on a piece of squid off the Las Arenas lighthouse.

PHOTO 9: Kevin Lang and George Nichols show off two of their dorado caught flylining baits south or Muertos Bay SE of La Paz.

PHOTO 10: Here’s the fish that made Las Arenas famous being held by Chris Blair and one of the best rooster captains in our fleet and in the area, Captain Archangel. This beauty was released to grow larger, but fish like this are still prowling the sandy shallows near the lighthouse!

PHOTO 11: Another solid beauty of a roosterfish! Rod Brown from Alaska visits us each year and loves fishing with Captain Jorge, for obvious reasons. Check out the rooster. Las Arenas is considered the “roosterfish capital of the world.” This fish was released.

PHOTO 12: Look carefully. I’ve never seen it photographed before and it’s a shame I can’t make the photo larger, but there’s about a dozen dorado in the water boiling on bait in a feeding frenzy! Get them going like this and it could be non-stop high-flying action for hours!

PHOTO 13: On the left Paul Scheuring from Mill Valley. Middle is Mike Ting from Redwood Shores. On the right is Fernando Sucre also from Redwood City. Showing of a brace of dorado headed to the hotel kitchen for a cook out. The guys caught these dorado north of La Paz

PHOTO 14: Don’t go in the water! This is the beak of one of these aggressive hungry giant squid. Easily snap off a finger or when groups get together tear apart fish and yes…even people! These hunters are canibalistic and even eat each other! This beak is what is in the middle of all those tentacles!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

PHOTO 1: THE BEASTS ARE BACK! I”m referring to the squid, not our two angler buddies from Boston…Mike “Moogie” Alperin and Joe Abrams. For two weeks not the big uglies have been off the Las Arenas area and range up to 60 pounds!

THEY’RE NOT BIG BUT THERE’S ALOT OF THEM! DORADO AGAIN CENTER STAGE WITH BIG SQUID GARNERING LOT OF INTEREST TOO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2008

PHOTO 2: From Denver, Dave Van Steenkiste came down for his first La Paz foray and did some great fishing including this excellent bull dorado, one of the largest this week. He was fishing just south of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 3: Our amigo, Nathan Chow, has been down numerous times with us and always does well. He got this nice female dorado while fishing north of La Paz. Nathan is from Fremont CA

PHOTO 4: A happy bunch after their first day of fishing, Steve Meyers, George Nichols, Kevin Lang (hiding behind the dorado) and Steve Delot hold some of their catch including the giant squid held by George.

PHOTO 5: Yes, the big roosters are still around. Mike Alperin was our rooster king of the week with several big guys caught and released this week including this big guy taken not far from Las Arenas beach. Captain Adolfo helps out. Mike released all fish and specializes in light tackle. He’s from the Boston area and this was his second trip out to see us this year.

PHOTO 6: Also down for their 2nd trip of the season are Craig and Cathy Corda from the San Diego area. Note Cathy’s new pink rod!

PHOTO 7: This seemed to be a week for returning amigos! Roger Van Steenkiste on the far left from Arizona comes to visit us twice a year. He was just here in August. Here’s he’s back again terrorizing the fish schools. Next to him are: Mike Reber, Greg Van Steenkiste, Jay Dawe, David Van Steenkiste and Olin Martin. Over 4 days, the group caught and released scores of dorado.

PHOTO 8: On is first trip with us, Joe “Flash” Abrams holds up one of the many schoolie roosterfish still holding along the beaches around La Paz. Great fun on light tackle. Joe and his amigos released a majority of their fish including all roosters.

PHOTO 9: La Paz in the house! Two of our La Paz amigos, Aurelio and Carlos know exactly what’s going on the barbecue tonite. They got an easy limit of dorado not 200 yards from the beach and stopped fishing after only 2 hours.

PHOTO 10: Don’t go in the water. This is what a 50 pound squid looks like going through it’s color changes before being brought aboard after coming up from the deep. These are not “cute.” These things can and will hurt you.

PHOTO 11: I told Dave Van Steenkiste to bring his flyrod out on the panga. Right off the bat, his first two fish on the flyrod are dorado! That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

PHOTO 12: Left to right, Randy Nakayama (Fullerton CA), Derrick Tagawa (Whittier CA), Mark Kojima (Hacienda Hts CA) with some of their dorado catch as well as one of the big squid they took just south of Punta Arenas lighthouse SE of La Paz

PHOTO 13: This is Chuck and Jennifer Applegarth from San Luis Obispo CA showing their first-day catch standing on the sand at Las Arenas. Flurries of breezing dorado can quickly turn into a feeding frenzy of colorful fish.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Turn up the sound and click the link!

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

THE FISH REPORT

Well, if you wanted to catch a dorado or a big squid (big enough to eat you!), this was certainly the week. Probably 90 percent of the catch this week was dorado. To get the dorado, you often had to catch the big squid. What a way to start the day…pulling a 40, 50, 60 pound squid up from several hundred feet down in the hot sun! It’s a workout!

But, let’s start with the dorado bite. OK…there are a lot of dorado around here right now. There’s not a lot of big ones. Normally, this time of the year, our average dorado STARTS at 20 pounds and goes up to 60. The AVERAGE size dorado is a 30 pounder. Not so the last few weeks. A 20 pound mahi is pretty big for now. Most of the fish are in the 10-15 pound class. However, lacking in quality, the schools have been making up for it in QUANTITY. Although it doesn’t happen every day and you can miss the school or have a slow day, don’t be surprised if you run into a school where you can hook and release 20 or 30 fish at a time! Bottom line, everyone who wants a dorado is getting dorado.

The dorado areas are scattered. Basically, if you have a bait in the water, you never know if a dorado will bite. The competition for the food is fierce and they’re willing to bite the big squid in chunks, live sardines, lures and strips of bonito as well.

For the squid, the guys fishing Las Arenas are getting big huge! Check out the photos. There have been squid even larger! Catching them right out of the chute in the morning is the way to go then using chunks for the dorado to get them going. Also, save some of that squid meat! Guys are taking huge slabs home in their ice chests for calamari.

For other species…sorry…no tuna this past week. I can’t imagine where they are, but this is normally a good time for the yellowfin. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, the tuna bite could crank up!

As you can see, we’ve still got some chunky roosterfish around! Fish the beaches. Most of these fishe are getting released and we’ve gotten some solid 50 pounders this past week.

Marlin and sails still around, but all four billfish…black marlin, blue marlin, striped marlin and sailfish are all in the waters feeding on all the small dorado and bonito.

That’s our story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

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