Tailhunter Fish Report

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

July 1, 2007 by riplipboy

PHOTO 1: What a gem of a photo and fish! No lie…we had it on a scale. This is what a 60 pound wahoo looks like! Johnny Bartee from Glendora CA is given an assist on the left by Alan Isham of Pomona CA (check out his cool shirt…”I see dead fish!”). This neat fish was taken off Las Arenas dragging the rapala you see still hanging from the mouth. It was certainly a good week for wahoo for our Las Arenas fleet although as the week went on, fishing got a bit tougher.

WEEK STARTS GOOD BUT FULL MOON, GREEN WATER, LOTS OF WATER TRAFFIC AND WINDS HAMPER THE BITE!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for July 1, 2007

Photo 2: Some really nice wahoo this week for our Las Arenas folks! Jeff Sakuda from Monterey Park comes down 3 times a year and always does well with Captain Jorge. Check out the nice wahoo. The wahoo continued to show a preference for trolled dark Rapalas and Yozuri Magnums.

PHOTO 3: OK…just had to put this in. It’s me and I do not have a hat or my bandana on so don’t be writing me about it! That’s not the point! Len and Cheryl Atkinson brought me THREE In-N-Out double-double animal style burgers in vacuum sealed bags! As much as I love Mexican food, sometimes you just GOTTA eat something not wrapped in a tortilla and covered with salsa! If only there was a way to get the hot french fries down here!

PHOTO 4: The dorado were hit and miss this week after two weeks of pretty solid fishing. The dorado bite got a bit picky. Lots of small fish, but occasionally some sweet mahi like this bull held up by our amiga “camp counselor” Marianne Sugawara from Cerritos CA. Marianne had a good few days of fishing including nailing a wahoo.

PHOTO 5: Danny Kadota, famous S.California sportfishing captain and ex-rep for Loomis rods (now with Quantum) and his brother Steve, love fishing inshore for pargo, jacks and other species. They nailed these nice amberjack in the shallows. Despite the fact that it’s July, inshore fishing remains steady for amberjack, pargo, roosterfish, cabrilla and even the occasional sierra! If you want action, just tell your skipper you want to chase some of these bad boys in the rocks!

PHOTO 6: Here’s a great story. Kasidy and Cassi Manhart came all the way from Utah. Their plane forgot them (Delta) AND lost their luggage too! But, both came with great attitudes (and Cassi is also pregnant with their first!) and they wacked fish! They got a number of species which was incredible for first times. On these wahoo…people come for years and never even get a wahoo to sniff. These two were trolling about 5 minutes into the day when WHACK! One rod goes off. While one of them is fighting it the other lure just happened to be sitting dead in the water when the second wahoo came up and blew it apart!

PHOTO 7 : It’s impossible not to post up this photo. Dorado fishing kinda tapered a bit. There’s alot of them out there the last few days, but they weren’t always very cooperative and many of those that were caught were too small to be worth keeping so thankfully, guys were throwing them back…that’s how small they were. Kasidy had no problem with this big bull. Live bait and trolled feathers did the best on these larger fish this week.

PHOTO 8: Hector Chacon from the San Gabriel Valley area in S.California came down with his family. They took two boats out one day. Fishing stunk. Nothing. Zero. Then, Hector remembered that his wife had packed BANANAS in the ice chest. He remembered that I said bananas are bad luck. So, he tossed all the bananas into the ocean. Within minutes they were hooked up. Bonito, dorado and even a mako shark were hooked. They yelled over to his father’s boat to “THROW AWAY THE BANANAS!” But, it was too late. The other boat got skunked.

“I still can’t believe we fell victim to the banana curse ! I couldn’t get what was happening, that morning, all three of our trolling lines got snagged not once but twice ! We finally threw some live bait and got lots of action but could not hook anything except a baby dorado which we let go. Finally I remembered that we had brought bananas for the kids to snack on and told my wife and daughter, to throw them over board. Not five minutes later two bonita’s hit our feathers. They became bait which enabled us to hook a small shark, and two dorado,” said Hector.

PHOTO 10: We encourage the release of our billfish, but sometimes the fish dies and it can’t be released. The meat is never wasted! For both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet, they are seeing tons of marlin out here, but they don’t often go for the bait or lures. Other times, they charge the boat like mad dogs. I’m happy to say that we’re releasing about 85 percent of our billfish catch. This sailfish was caught by Captain Victor and John Berry, from Los Angeles, who owns the Big Fish Electric Company.

PHOTO 12: Chris Sena from Lafayette CA hung this big headed wahoo with our Las Arenas fleet. That’s S.Cerralvo Island in the background. There were a few days early in the week where there were spots of wahoo so thick and free-swimming that the commercial pangeros were actually harpooning them with sharpened rebar tied to a rope! Talk about cowboy fishing!

PHOTO 13: Tony Adamich and Brendan hold a pargo, a tuna and a striped marlin. I’ll let Tony tell it: “…in two days we caught eight Dorado, 5 tuna, 3 Red Snapper and too many dorado to even count and released…and that was during a supposed slow week.”

PHOTO 14: Folks ask about flyfishing all the time down here and it’s getting more and more popular. Chris Anderson from Brentwood CA shows the power of our fish. He hooked a striped marlin on his flyrod and fought it for quite sometime. That is…until the marlin straightened the hook! Epic! I believe he told me it was a Gamakatsu or Owner hook which are some of the strongest you can tie on!

THE FISH REPORT:

For once, maybe the photos don’t tell all the story. Some great fish caught, no doubt, but most of the time this week, we really had to work at it.

It wasn’t easy. You could work it all over the ocean and then hit a productive spot at the very end or nothing at all. It was weird. If you fish a couple of days, everyone still got fish and believe me there were some banner wahoo, billfish, dorado and roosters caught, but if you were only fishing one day…you could hit a rough spot!

Normally at this time, we’re pretty much great guns on the dorado and most of the bluewater species, but lingering winds pushed up some cold green waters from down deep turning much of the water chilly. Let me put it this way. On the surface, it would be 80 degrees but only 15 or 20 feet below, there’s a thermocline that’s 65 degrees and COLD!

The fish are confused or lockjawed! The water temps change from day to day almost and you could see dozens of marlin sitting lazily on the surface or else tons of dorado that won’t bite. The next day at the same spot it’s utter chaos! It’s just really hard to know.

Cold green water combined with a few other factors as well…I hate to admit it, but this WAS the full moon plus there’s a ton of water traffic out there. As the week went on we started out with some pretty decent fishing but as the weekend drew nearer and the city got more crowded so did the traffic on the water PLUS there was a big local dorado tournament over the weekend.

None of these things by itself would have done much to impact the fish, but all together…the put a whammy on the bite!

But, enough of the negative…here’s some positive stuff…

1. At Las Arenas, our fleets still got some great inshore fishing for pargo, amberjack, roosters and jack crevalle as well as big bonito plus offshore species like wahoo and dorado. It’s not wide open, but this past week, Las Arenas was the better place to be so we switched alot of our clients over to Las Arenas. There’s definitely more action at Las Arenas.

2. Marlin marlin marlin…everywhere. Sometimes the bite and other times you’d think you threw a stinky sock at them. They swim away Of the ones we have hooked this week, most are getting released but our biggest was a 350 pounder and a 150. Many first timers hooked their first marlin this week.

4. Lots of mako sharks around. Great eating and we’re putting a few on the boat, but most times, they bite through the line like it was a wet noodle.

5. More sargasso weed buildging up which heralds some great dorado season upcoming

6. Bait has been tougher to get with the winds so get loaded; get on board; be the first one to get to the fishing grounds. That means if you dawdle, you might be SOL on getting bait.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

June 22, 2007 by riplipboy

OPENING PHOTO: Can it possibly be? Yes, Johnny Bartee of Glendora CA and Alan Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA are holding up YELLOWFIN TUNA! Go figure! A welcome surprise in an already weird year. The fish showed up a few times this week of S. Cerralvo Island. Check out the nice pargo too!

NO DOUBT DORADO ARE HERE ALTHOUGH SOME DAYS ARE TOUGH – OTHER SPECIES LIKE AMBERJACK, MARLIN, WAHOO, AND EVEN TUNA PICK UP THE SLACK!

The La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for June 24, 2007

PHOTO 1 : Bruce Husson from San Diego hefts one of several nice dorado he hooked fishing out of La Paz this past week. Although fishing was hardly wide open, this was by far the most consistent week of dorado fishing of the season with all of our La Paz boats getting limits or near limits most days as dorado season seems like it’s finally kicked in. If winds continue to die down and conditions improve, the dorado bite will only get better!

PHOTO 2: Rick Carlton came down from San Diego and hefts a nice roosterfish that was released. Although it’s hard to see, Rick’s panga is only a few dozen yards off the beach at Las Arenas where roosters are still holding around the bait. In the last few weeks it would seem the roosterfishing has tapered off. In fact, the roosters are still there up to 50 pounds. It’s just that not many anglers are fishing for them anymore now that dorado and good-eating amberjack have shown up. Live sardines are still best for these pez gallo with the larger ones falling for live large ladyfish (sabalo). Big fish…big baits!

PHOTO 3: Mike “Intimidator” Gravert has a great time fishing with us. In fact, he fished 10 days with us. All the way from Sacramento, I can’t get him to smile when he holds fish! But, he’s never happier than when he’s fishing. Over his trip, he got several blue marlin (released), dorado, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, wahoo and a few other species as well. This dorado was caught out of La Paz.

PHOTO 4: Kelee Sharlack didn’t have too bad of a trip. From Northern California areaa, this early season bull ripped a live sardine off Espiritu Santo Island. Kellee was fishing with her favorite Capt. Joel and got quite a few of these nice dorado over the course of her stay. Fishing the dorado right now, can be hit-or-miss all day until you hit the right spot then it can turn into utter madness as fish slam from all angles. As one clients told me, “We could have had 40 fish in an hour if we wanted to!” Fish are loving the live baits, but the larger bulls are hitting trolled feathers and stripped bonito. So, bring your tuna feathers, anglers! Bright colors work best.

PHOTO 5: For our Las Arenas boats, there are fewer dorado but they seem to generally be larger fish. Greg Covello holds a pair at Las Arenas Beach near the lighthouse.

PHOTO 6: Wahoo are still biting…sort of! One day everyone gets hit. Then for two days, nothing even bumps! The hot spot is still some of the high spots at the south end of Cerralvo Island trolling with larger dark Yozuri Magnums or CD 18 Rapalas. No wire is best. One method we seem to find effective and has resulted in some strikes is to troll like normal then stop the boat. Sometimes, it seems that wahoo are simply trailing and not striking. When the boat stops…WHAM!!!! Here’s Mike Gravert again. Good day when you get a wahoo!

PHOTO 7: La Paz has more dorado (5-15 pound size), but generally, Las Arenas has the larger fish although fewer of them. Sam Henning on his first trip here from Colorado stuck this good bull off Las Arenas fishing with Captain Victor.

PHOTO 8 : Check out the colors on this pargo. Derek Chu of Philadelphia spent two days off the end of Cerralvo Island with his dad and they hammered all kinds of pargo, cabrilla, jacks and pompano.

PHOTO 9: This is me and Captain Victor who many of you know. I was working my light spinning rod in front of the Arenas lighthouse and got 3 of these beasts. It’s your every-day garden variety needlefish that we all hate. But…look at the size. Check out the head! The beak of teeth was about 2 feet long and if I had let go the tail, it would have touched the deck of the panga.

THE FISH REPORT

Well…some folks who fished down here this past week might tell you that fishing was not very good. But, I gotta tell you…not many of them were OUR folks! We did pretty good! It wasn’t wide open and if you fished few days with us, there were some rough spots…winds came back…bait a little tough…periods of slow fishing.

But WAIT (as they say in the info-mercials) !!!!

If you fished with us a few days, you went home with fish! You might have an off-day but overall, there was some great fishing in between too and all our anglers got fish.

So…check out the photos and that will tell you the story. Yes, the winds came back up again and turned the waters off-color and cooler and made some mornings bumpy, but if you had a bait in the water you probably got bit! Let me bust it out like this…

LAS ARENAS

We still have alot of variety around the south end of Cerralvo, Punta Arenas and Punta Perrico. Generally these are the areas where the water was calmer although some mornings there were late starts until you could get enought bait.

Wahoo continued to tease with a few fish caught every other day or so. People would crash the areas and scatter the fish then take a few days for the area to re-load.

Dorado could show up at anytime and anyplace. Generally, many of the dorado from Las Arenas were the larger variety especially if you were fishing the buoys.

Marlin are rather abundant. Some boats got multiple hooksup daily as many of the billfish are starting to finally warm up to the idea of eating a bait and are also actively eating all the small dorado in the area.

Inshore species like roosterfish are still around although not many are being caught as anglers have turned their focus more towards the better eating fish like the dorado and wahoo. Still, any of the sandy beach areas could hold pez gallo if you threw a handful of bait and watched the combs explode. In the same area, jacks and pompano are also being caught.

As well, amberjack up to 50 and 60 pounds were caught this week along with more pargo and a smattering of small yellowfin tuna popped up in the middle of the bonito and skipjack schools.

LA PAZ

For the second straight week, dorado were the central focus of our fleets. Safe to say, I think we’re finally into a solid dorado season. Some boats did better than others, but almost all our boats would get limits or near limits ( We did have one boat that took a load of bananas and and didn’t catch a thing while their buddies on another panga discovered the bananas, threw them overboard and suddenly started hooking up!)

Fish are school-sized 5 to 15 pounders mostly with a few 20-30 pound bulls mixed in and some larger fish getting lost. Live bait works best, but larger baits like caballitos and mackerel or trolling dead bonito strips or feathers seemed to produce the larger fish.

The best areas are around Punta Coyote, Las Cruces and the gap between the islands. Same areas are getting lots of marlin sightings.

FISHING TIPS

1. Bring flurocarbon leader if you have it. 30 and 40 pound leader seems to make a difference

2. Dark colored Rapalas or similar for the wahoo

3. Small swivels if you have to use leader

4. Trap-hook rigs (double hooks) for the larger pargo

5. Lots of sunscreen and a giant hat…it’s HOT!

6. We do not troll alot down here, but some of the bigger dorado are coming up on feathers!

AIRLINE ALERT

If you are flying in September or October down here and you are holding a ticket with Delta Airlines or it’s partners you need to call up your travel agent or Delta Airlines. This past week, Delta canceled or changed many of the flights to La Paz during those months. For some, it was simply a matter of a time change. Others have been re-routed so that there’s a short stop somewhere. Others (not many) have been cancelled.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

June 17, 2007 by riplipboy

PHOTO 1: Alissa Dufour came up from the East Cape with her husband, Chris for one day fishing with us out of Las Arenas. They did great. Check out the size of this nice amberjack. Amberjack came on strong this week. Many of the rocky areas around Cerralvo Island as well as Punta Perrico sometimes running in schools under the boat. The key bait was to go get zebra fish as bait from around the buoys then come back to the rocky areas and it was like dropping meat in front of a hungry lion.

DORADO SEASON IS OFFICIALLY ON AS HOT WEATHER HITS LA PAZ ALONG WITH NUMEROUS OTHER SPECIES

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for June 17, 2007

PHOTO 2 – Cute as a button, Jaimie Ivins, from Orange Co. CA had a great week. In addition to a great week of fishing, she just found out she and her husband are having their first baby! That didn’t stop her from pulling on fish like this great wahoo that’s about as big as she is. She’s helped by Captain Loreto. The fish was taken off Cerralvo Island. Wahoo continued to hit with a few getting taken everyday. The darker Marauder/Rapala/Yo-Zuri type trolling lures were best. Fish averaged 30-50 pounds.

PHOTO 3: Chris Dufour from Fresno CA just finished his first year of teaching first graders and was on a serious Baja vacation for R and R. He and his wife, Alissa, fished with us one day off Las Arenas with Captain Ramiro. Chris had never caught a dorado before and his first turns out to be this 30 pound class slugger bull dorado! As you can see from this week’s photos, there were alot more dorado this week as the mahi bite turned on for the first time with consistency.

PHOTO 5: Greg Covello from Modesto CA always does well with us. Last year he nailed a 400 pound black marlin on a panga about 100 yards from shore. This year he got didn’t get a big marlin, but hooked several stripers and got this nice wahoo off Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 6: Dorado coming off the outside buoys was the ticket this week. If you hit the right buoy, it could be banner action. Captain Jorge “Moscorone” fished with Jeff Dawkins and Lee Spack and put some mahi meat in the ice chests! The secret on these dorado was to be the first to the spots before boat traffic built up.

PHOTO 7: Check out “Iron” Dan Aguilar and Dave Gault from Riverside CA. Great dorado fishing, right? But take a look at what Dan is holding…it’s a mako shark. Dave was fighting one of the dorado when the shark came in and took a piece of the dorado’s tail! Captain Adolpho (“Yofo”) grabbed a steel leader and tied it on with a baited hook and the shark bit! Hook up! About a 25 pound mako shark. Although we don’t encourage shark fishing (can be a bit dangerous), this fish is great eating. Tastes alot like swordfish!

PHOTO 8: Officer James Henning is often patrolling around Denver CO, but brought a group of 10 to visit us this week. Here, he’s holding up a nice dorado while standing on Las Arenas Beach.

PHOTO 9: Kendall Weickum and his son Gary, did some great dorad fishing also taking this nice pair of mahi on their first of 3 days of fishing. Captain “Albondigon” Gerardo is in the center.

PHOTO 10: Yes, the roosterfish are still here and they’re off the Las Arenas lighthouse in what has to be the best roosterfish season we’ve had in awhile. The only problem is that there’s also so many jacks that they zoom in a hit the baits before the big pez gallo can slam in. Cesar Carillo is one of our great amigos and comes down every year from the Modesto CA area. He was intent on getting his first rooster and nailed this bad boy right off the beach. The fish was revived to released. Cesar also got wahoo; pargo; dorado; and one day had 4 marlin hook ups and releases this past week.

PHOTO 11: Our amigo, Len Atkinson and his wife came down to celebrate 39 years of marriage. They also brought me the gift of gifts…3 vacuum sealed In-N-Out double double animal-style burgers that I had been craving! They were soooo delicious! Anyway, here Len hefts a nice female dorado with the help of Captain Jorge. They also nailed some nice amberjack and spent most of their time handing out free fillets to whoever wanted fish!

PHOTO 12: Check out the smiles. Check out the big amberjack “pez fuerte.” These nice fish are bigger cousins to yellowtail and much better eating. Rajer Choobek and Paul Castellano from Los Angeles had a nice week of fishing with us getting pargo, jacks, ambers, and dorado.

PHOTO 12: Despite the hot weather, there’s still some big pargo here which are usually associated more with the cooler waters. Check out this bad boy…the fish that is…not Mitch Kiuharski from Denver CO who had his hands full pulling this guy out’ve the rocks. The larger pargo are still there in the rocks near the SE end of Cerralvo Island as well as off Espiritu Santo although the amberjack are doing their best to steal the spotlight. Bigger the baits, the bigger the fish!

PHOTO 13: Dr. Pek Chu from Northern CA is a dentist. His son, Derek, is in his dental residency in Philadelphia PA. They took a break to check out the teeth on some of our rock fish and got an incredible amout of great-eating variety including, pargo mulatto, red snapper, yellow snapper, pargo liso, pargo perro, pompano and a few others I can’t remember over two days fishing the islands.

PHOTO 14: I have no idea where Chad Theis lives. He wouldn’t tell me. He wanted me to go find a basketball and play him hoops (Why?). His friends think he’s sometimes from outer space! But he sure did well with these two big pargo.

PHOTO 15: “Scuba” Steve is prison guard by day and a dorado fisherman when he comes to Baja. Steve is here on the beach at Las Arenas with one of a number of dorado he caught.

THE FISHING REPORT

I guess this is another week when I can just let the photos do the talking! If you read the captions, it gives you and idea of what kind of week we had. The winds finally slowed down and both Las Arenas and (finally) La Paz started to kick out the dorado. Las Arenas had the larger fish, but La Paz had the most fish (although lots of them were smaller 1-5 pound fish we encouraged releasing). However, there were still 20-40 pound bulls that were nothing to sneeze at. Sargasso weed paddies are starting to build around that area between Cerralvo and Espiritu Santo Island. As long as winds don’t blow it all apart again, we hope the dorado bite just gets stronger. These little fish if left to live will be 10 pounders in a month and 20 pounders by the end of summer or fall.

Because there’s so many little dorado around, so were the marlin. Still many were reluctant to eat our baits, but there were still a good number of hook-ups, bust-offs, and releases. Striped marlin in the 100 pound class and blue marlin in the 200-300 pound class were the mainstays. Most were released by anglers.

Inshore, still super action on pargo (lisa, dog, red, yellow and barred) with lots of fish still taking guys into the rocks. However check the photos and some guys just have a knack for doing better than others! The nice addition were the influx of big amberjack that moved into the same spots. Ambers like the rocks too, but the difference is that they’ll come up and out of the rocks so they can be fought easier. There’s still big roosters along the beaches as well as jack crevalle and pompano too!

SOCIAL HAPPENINGS WITH THE TAILHUNTER FAMILY- MILESTONES AND CONGRATULATIONS!

PHOTO 16: I met Spike Ivins years ago when he was a deckhand on the long-range boat “Red Rooster” out of San Diego. One of the best fishermen we’ve ever had down here. He’s standing with his wife Jamie and both of them live in San Clemente CA. Just before coming down, they found out they were pregnant and the doctor told them to still come down and have some fun. They did pretty darned good!

PHOTO 17 and 18 : “Intimidator” Mike Gravert from Sacramento CA came down this week for 10 days of rod bending. But, he also had another agenda. Somewhere during the week he was intent on asking his long-time lady, Kelee the “big question!” It was quite an adventure, but he finally just pulled her out on the pier behind La Concha Beach Resort at sunset and took a knee. We were hiding with our cameras and captured the moment!

Oh…by the way…during the week, they caught 2 blue marlin, numerous dorado, wahoo, and a bunch of other species releasing most of their fish. Good folks!

PHOTO 19 – UNSUNG HEROES – I cannot say enough about these guys. Strange picture? Well, on their last day, Chris Silva in red, James Booth behind him and their buddies Mike Booth and Bill Sharp from Riverside CA, told me they wanted to bring all the fish they had caught to the old folks home at St. Vincente here in La Paz. Wow…that was great. They must have had 2 full ice chests of fish. On the way to the home, they wanted to stop at the market to “buy a few things.” Well, each guy got a full basket and like kids in a toy store threw just about everything into these 4 carts…eggs, hams, chickens, tortillas, canned goods, rice, flour, vegetables, milk, juices, soap…things were flying! I think I even saw Mike Booth sneak a bottle of tequila into his basket. “They’re old…they’re not dead!” he said with a wink!

They bought over 500 bucks of groceries. What a great great gift when we arrived at St. Vincents. Thanks guys. You rock!

LUGGAGE WARNING AND ADVICE

Over the past week it seems that we’re seeing more and more luggage misplaced by the airlines coming down here. Delta seems to be the worst. I don’t know what’s up with them. It’s getting worse. I don’t know if they just hit a bad patch or what, but here’s some advice:

1. Board your plane EARLY. People who come on last stand the great chance of luggage not making it.

2. Label your gear

3. Do NOT put your medications or parts for your PAP machines in your check-in luggage. Carry it on!!! PLEASE. We’ve had several vacations almost turn to disaster when critical medications were left in check-in luggage that did not arrive until a day or two later. Bring an extra copy of your prescription so that if your meds do get lost you can take the prescription to a local pharmacy.

4. There seems to be no problem with line on reels.

That’s my story!

Happy Fathers Day everyone!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

June 8, 2007 by riplipboy

PHOTO 1: Erik Boye from the San Francisco area, probably did as well as anyone in the 3 days he fished with us. In fact, he was “on fire.” I think the biggest fish he had ever caught before visiting us this past week was a rainbow trout. If I recall correctly, he got wahoo, pompano, amberjack, dorado, jack crevalle, roosterfish and a few more. The list was too long!
Wahoo are still biting south of Cerralvo Island. We’re having one of the better wahoo seasons we’ve had in a few seasons. Dark-colored rapalas or Yo-Zuri type lipped lures are working best with no wire. You do get bit more with no wire, but I tell you what…I’ve lost 4 of these hard-to-get lures the last two weeks and still haven’t been as lucky as Mr. Boye!

FISHING VARIETY STILL KEEPS EVERYONE GUESSING WITH SO MANY SPECIES ON THE BOARDS -NOT FULL SPEED YET AS SOME LATENT WINDS AND GREEN WATER HINDERED THE BITE BUT THERE’S FISH TO BE CAUGHT!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JUNE 10, 2007

PHOTO 2: Check this out! How good of a shot is this? Early season dorado in the hands of Jennifer and Tony Mouncer from Oregon. We had more of these show up this past week, but still nothing wide open. We seem to be a few degrees off still with winds stirring up some green water and collaring a bite that seems to want to take off. But look at these colors. Check out the flat water that is so glassy you can’t tell where the blue water ends and the blue sky begins!

PHOTO 3: Carlos Vasquez from El Monte CA came down with his family but took two days to fish with us out of Las Arenas and did as well with his buddy, Bernie Melendez (photo below) as anyone given the limited time. Amberjack like this showed up at Punta Perrico as well as the South Side of Cerralvo Island with fish upt to 30 pounds. The trick to getting these cousins to the yellowtail was to catch the zebra fish (pilot fish) first to use for bait. With a zebra, the ambers literally inhaled the hooks! Las Arenas was the hot spot for these great fighters this past week.

PHOTO 4: OK, so it’s not the most artistically posed fishing photo, but Bernie Melendez’ grin says it all. He and his buddy Carlos Vasquez (above) tore up the bottom fish with pargo, cabrilla, pompano, amberjack, and this upside-down barred pargo (pargo mullato). Some great fillets to bring home! This fish was caught off the SE end of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 5: More dorado showed up this past week. I think we’re still on the edge and waiting for the waters to warm fully, but we’ve had a few nice flurries. Here, Katie Olson from Pasadena stands with Captain Jorge “Moscorone” at Las Arenas Beach. Katie and her husband, John, had a banner few days taking dorado, roosters, snapper, pargo and sailfish this past week. Keep tuned. Late in the week the buoys off Las Arenas held some incredible dorado fishing that would be “on” one day then “off” the next. Just a matter of time! Our largest this week as a 47 pounder taken by Mike Law of Northern Cal.

PHOTO 6: Jennifer Mouncer was worried about how she’d do fishing on the ocean with us and we kept re-assuring her that this was EASY!!! She’s now a believer. She and her husband, Tony, from Oregon (photo 1) are already planning two trips next year. They slammed fish including this big rooster that needed a heft from Captain Victor. They released all of their roosters and many of their other fish. There was still a good body of roosters there near the Arenas lighthouse and along the west side of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 7: Kyle Bowers is 14 years old and came down with his dad from Denver. Although fishing was really inconsistent for our La Paz fleet, Kyle holds up two of the dorado he boated fisihng off Espiritu Santo Island. He and his dad (see photo below) nailed numerous other varieties of fish with our Las Arenas fleet and Kyle even took several days to complete his SCUBA certification.

PHOTO 8: I’m not sure who has the meaner looking face…this huge barracuda or our amigo, Carlos! We have barracuda here in La Paz, but usually, they’re about a foot long. This hog goes about three feet and was caught off Cerralvo Island wth live bait.

PHOTO 9: For four years, Mike Bowers would come to our booth at the Denver CO Sportsmans’ show and tell me he was coming down. Every year he would tell me the same thing. This year, he finally made it with his son (photo above). With Captain Gerardo driving the boat, Mike and Kyle ripped up roosters, jacks, pargo, cabrilla, big eyes, bonito, and several other species as well. The rooster was released , but they took alot of other fillets home for a barbecue with friends.

PHOTO 10: From the Phoenix AZ area, Chris and Rhoda Brown visited us this past week for some R and R. One day of fishing at Las Arenas provided quite a variety! Smaller dogtooth, yellow snapper, pargo, cabrilla and pompano filled the box…all great eating fish! This is the kind of inshore variety we have this time of year with great action on numerous species.

PHOTO 11 – What the heck is that? I told you there was alot of variety right now! Last week we had a fish that looked like a fresh water catfish that no one had ever seen before. Turned out to be a “chili sea catfish.” This fish also turned alot of heads. Looks alot like a halibut to me and we don’t catch halibut down here. This turns out to be a “gulf sand dab” held by Rob Dickens from San Francisco standing next to Captain Ramiro.

PHOTO 12 : We still have pargo in the shallows right now. The schools are still up against the rocks frustrating alot of anglers as they crash the baits and take guys into the rocks. Hot spots are still the SE side of Cerralvo Island where the amberjack also showed up as well as down around Punta Perrico. Fish like the ones Larry is holding up here are the ones we actually get to see! Larger fish up to 50 pounds or so…we never see! We just hear stories about huge fish that could not be stopped even on the heaviest tackle!

THE FISH REPORT

Again, I think this is another week where I’m just gonna let the pictures do the talking. Check ’em out. However, that does not begin to do justice to the total variety of species you can catch right now.

The list is long…roosters, dorado, sailfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, bonito, skipjack, barred pargo, pargo liso, dog tooth snapper, yellow snapper, cabrilla, wahoo, rainbow runners, big eye jacks, pompano, jack crevalle, yellowtail…are just some of the species I saw this week.

I won’t BS you however…it’s not WIDE OPEN. One day the fish are on fire or one species is just exploding and the next day it’s a pick bite or the spot that was blowing up one day seems like a desert the next. Or you pull to a spot and it’s litterally a fish pond of fins…marlin or sailfish or roosters and they won’t eat a single thing no matter what you throw at them! Frustrates the hell outta you! It’s hit or miss sometimes or some guys swing for the fence with a home run and strike out going for the big fish or blue water species like marlin and dorado. When they find out that those fish aren’t there or not eating, it’s often too late to go fishing for something else. It sure keeps us guessing, but if you put in a few days, everyone is getting fish.

Or…

The bug-a-boo…freaky winds hit us this last week. I thought we were all done with that foolishness. May was incredibly windy and we thought it was done. We had about a week-and-a-half of super weather, water and fishing. Yay! At last, summer was here.

Then, WHAM…the wind came up. It turned the waters green as cooler upswellings came up frmo the deep canyons. Some areas shut down. No fish. Others just got too unfishable. That’s what happened with our La Paz fleet. It was not only rough, but real difficult fishing. So, fortunately having our fleets at both La Paz and Las Arenas we switched most of our people over to Las Arenas where waters were still green, but at least calm and there was stil action to be had. Even if it was a day full of fishing for jacks, it topped going out of La Paz Bay and getting wet and travelling far for spotty action.

Personally, I still think we’re just a degree or two of water temps away from things blowing up big time. Before the winds, the sargasso weed was starting to build up nicely in the channel. When that happens the dorado schools aren’t far behind! But the winds came up and blew all the sargasso paddies apart!

We’ll keep you posted!

FED SUSPENDS THE PASSPORT PROGRAM WITH SOME GREAT MODIFICATIONS!

It’s official. Just in case you had not heard, this past week the feds suspended the passport program requiring that all travelers to and from Mexico have passports starting this year. The surge in applications literally crippled the immigration staffs not to mention pissing off a bunch of people who had to sweat it out waiting for passports which were taking up to 4 months to process. Quite a few people lost vacations over it. Anyway, the new law says that if you can show that you have a receipt for your application and that it’s being processed and can also present a valid i.d. like a driver’s license, you’re good to go! Click this link to FOX news for more details: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,279380,00.html

That’s my story!

Have a great week…

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.comU.S.

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

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

June 3, 2007 by riplipboy

PHOTO: One danged big pargo liso! These are the ones we rarely see…mainly because they bite your bait, kick your butt, and take you into the rocks and you can’t stop them! So, you end up scratching your head wondering “what the….?” Well, this is what they look like, amigos. And they get bigger. Captain “Chava” Jorge didn’t have any clients this day so he decided to see what he could do on his own. That’s alot of fillets! These fish are still at the island and rocky areas.

TALK ABOUT A MIX OF FISH…WATERS HOLDING ALL MANNER OF CRITTERS!

THE LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JUNE 3, 2007

PHOTO 1: Bob Lederer came all the way from the East Coast and got our largest dorado of the week. The mahi are showing signs of coming on stronger each week although they’re not quite here in force…yet. However, vanguard fish like this bull are showing up more often and sargasso weed is starting to build in the channel. Bob got this around the S. end of Cerralvo Island with a live sardine.

PHOTO 2: Mr. ‘Hoo and his mouth of teeth are prized catches here not to mention deee-lish-us on the plate! In the past 4 weeks, more wahoo have been hooked and landed already than we had all last year. Fish are 20-50 pound flyers with about a 1:5 hook-up to catch ratio. So many fish are getting lost or lines getting cut. Wire is nice, but you get more bites by tying on straight. Paul Shepherd from Modesto CA and Daniel Lee from somewhere in Indiana (Sorry, Dan!) got these two, but had another 8 or 9 fish fall off during 3 days. Dark Rapalas worked best and it did NOT have to be an early morning bite like usual. If you want more fish, take off the treble hooks and put on single Si-wash hooks on the Rapalas. You’ll lose less fish. At times you can see several fish on the surface and they WILL strike Rapalas or baits that are just sitting there wiggling on the surface! The fish bite some days and not others, but on the days they bite, there’s some prize meat on the beach. Fishing out of Las Arenas has been best.

PHOTO 3: Look at this slugger. The fish that is…not Terry Johnson from Denver, CO. This is one plug of a roosterfish. Terry and his son Preston got numerous fish all week on light spinning tackle and had a blast. They released almost all their roosters. This was one that did not revive but the meat was donated. The roosters are still going strong right off the Arenas lighthouse as well as around Punta Perrico. The larger fish like live ladyfish, but this one ate a sardine.

PHOTO 4: Can it be? Is that a FRESH water catfish? It perplexed the hell out’ve all of us! Pete Wight from Torrance CA was fishing from the kayak in front of the Marina Fiesta Beach and hooked this interesting fish. (In 4 days fishing, Pete actually caught 24 species of fish from pangas, cruisers, the beach and kayak!). Turns out it’s a CHILE SEA CATFISH! http://www.mexfish.com/fish/cscat/cscat.htm And it has venomous spines. Put it DOWN, Pete!

PHOTO 5: We had one day where all these lazy billfish that have been hanging around our waters took a day and finally decided to come to the party! It was spectactular with many boats suddenly hooking numerous billfish close to shore. This shot is a sail going airborne off Espiritu Santo Island about mid-week. (The fish was not killed!)

PHOTO 6: Al Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA is about 6’8″ standing next to me so you can figure how big this rooster is! Check out how close they are to the beach behind them. Al got a number of these roosters and released them all. Al just left us and booked to come back already this month! That’s famous Captain Victor behind him hiding!

PHOTO 7: Randy Johnson from Rosarito Beach, Mexico and Al Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA have been pals longer than dirt is old. They finish each other’s sentences! And have been fishing togther for a couple of decades. Check out the big pompano they’re holding. These fish moved into the shallows near the Las Arenas lighthouse about 3 weeks ago and are fished near the bottom with a small weight and live sardine. Some of the best eating fish in the Cortez!

PHOTO 8: This smiling guy is Mitch Chavira. Mitch lives in Encinitas CA. Mitch comes down here all the time and makes us all look foolish with some of the fish he catches. Better to be lucky than good. Mitch is usually both. This is a HUGE jack crevalle! The biggest hinderance to catching a trophy rooster right now are these things! They grab the bait before Mr. Rooster can swing in!

PHOTO 9 : This smiling young man is 11-year-old Cole Chavira. Cole is Mitch’s son (see photo above). Mitch makes us all look bad. Cole usually makes his dad look bad. Cole has been fishing for years down here and has probably gotten his photo published more often than any other friends/clients I have ever had. This past week, Cole and his pops, got into a massive jack and rooster bite off Espiritu Santo Island. It was WFO non-stop. They released over a dozen roosters (lost count) plus jacks plus other rock fish. I think they even got dorado too. They were back by 11 a.m. on the beach. (Notice the cool authographed shirt he’s wearing…with my signature of course! With the way he fishes I should have asked for HIS autograph! )

The Report:

Where do I start? I guess I can tell you to just look at the photos and let the photos do the talking!!! It’s much like I tell folks about this time of year. You never know what is gonna hit your line! There has been so much variety this week, it’s incredible. No one fish stuck out, but there were a whole bunch of fish that helped to fill fish boxes and bend rods. It would be a lie to tell you it was OUTSTANDING fishing…some days were just better than others. Some spots were better than others. However, if you fished a few days there were so many opportunities to get so many different kinds of fish, it was alot of fun this past week.

Pete Wight (photo above with the catfish) said this:

“Enjoyed your operation–had a blast. Like I mentioned, the variety of fish in La Paz was outstanding. Twenty-four different species including sailfish, dorado, roosterfish, amberjack, toro, catfish, bonefish, pompano, cabrilla (two types), barracuda, pargo (red, striped, yellow), skipjack, three unidentified species of jack, striped grunt, pufferfish (two types), needlefish, one unidentified species from the kayak, needlefish, and lastly the lowly lizardfish.”

Ok…so some of these species aren’t real exciting, but just take a look at the photos above and it gives you a smidgen of what we had this week.

It was weird. One day yellowtail broke loose and then the next daythey were gone. Another day, marlin just blew up the ocean and boats had multiple hooks ups and dorado were shooting through the billfish. The next day that spot was blank…but just up the track…roosterfish decided it was their turn. So unpredictable.

Both La Paz and Las Arenas had their moments so it’s hard to say which side is better to fish on right now or to predict what the coming week will be like. I think if there’s any disappointment, it’s from guys who fully expected the dorado would be in full swing by now. They’re not. However, the waters are just a degree or two away from turning it all around. There are more dorado each week. But until then, fill the plate with whatever is biting!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

May 26, 2007 by riplipboy

ROOSTERS GONE WILD! JACKS AND POMPANO ROLL UP ON BEACHES! WAHOO GETTING MORE ACTIVE WITH ANGLERS WHILE DORADO FINALLY START TO SHOW!

La Paz / Las Arenas Report for May 27, 2007

PHOTO 1 : Daniel Lee from Indiana was on his first trip to Baja and first salt-water trip. He holds up one of our first dorado of the season. We started get more dorado this week as waters warmed. Dan was fishing for pargo near the Punta Perrico rocks when several mahi shot through and bit the baits. Daniel also got his first wahoo this week as well as roosterfish! Talk about beginners luck!

PHOTO 2: You can’t see his face, but no mistaking the fish! This slugger rooster is being held by Bruce Kim of S.Pasadena CA. Las Arenas beach is in the background. Bruce said they had run out ‘ve bait and then used a small cocinero (jack) and hung this bad boy…the captain said it weighed about 30 kilos…65 pounds. We got lots of roosters this week and almost all of them were being released.

PHOTO 3: That’s no salmon! Cindi Colvin from Oregon had quite a first day with her husband Mark. In addition to numerous other species, they got TWELVE roosters including this 45 pounder. Cindi says they were into the fish five minutes after they started fishing. All fish were released.

PHOTO 4: Mark Colvin came down from Oregon and couldn’t get into the photo. But Captain Victor did! In addition to the roosters, he and his wife, Cindi (photo above) also got big eyed-jacks, pompano and tough fighters like this huge jack crevalle (toro).

PHOTO 5: Bob Keaton worked the flyrod all week. The flyfishers had a ball for the most part all week with all the species in the water right now, but check out the huge pompano! Size of a pizza plate! Smile, Bob! Great catch.

PHOTO 6: Everyone keeps asking me what a big-eye jack is! We call ’em ojotones. They’re thick in the beaches now and great fun. Also, unlike their cousin roosterfish and jack creavalle, these guys are great eating! This is Paul Shepherd from San Jose modeling his fish for us.

PHOTO 7 : This is our economy party-boat panga. You get what you pay for! Just having some fun! Honest, we don’t crowd you in our pangas. We’re just waiting for the tide to float us off the beach!

PHOTO 8 : Mexican sand is HOT! Two blocks of ice come in handy for obviuos reasons!

OUR STORY

Well, I won’t say it was spectacular but in terms of light tackle inshore fishing, this past week was almost off the charts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a week where we got so many inshore species…pargo, snapper, rainbow runners, pompano, jack crevalle, big-eyed jacks, yellowtail, bonito…and roosters!!! OMG…amigos!!!

Imagine being 20 feet from shore in a panga cruising in 5 feet of water and watching the waters boil around you with roosters slicing through the chum…some of the fish 30-60 pounders with combs a foot out of the water!!!!

We had days where ever boat hooked 2, 4, 6, 7, even 12 roosters in a single day!!! That is unheard of! Guys come year after year trying to get a rooster and end up with a big ZERO! Right now, it’s almost like a shooting gallery! The only hinderance to getting the big boys is that when you flip a sardine into the water often the other jacks will grab it before the big rooster can gulp it!

Tell ya what else…if you like the light tackle…I had on 10 pound test and a 7 foot graphite spinning rod the other day and it was a complete hoot! I was almost spooled on every single fish even though I was high sticking and throwing water on the sizzling spool! Whether I was throwing plastics, bait, poppers…they were inhaled!

All of this was taking place for our Las Arenas fleet. It’s still a bit windy for most folks so we moved alot of our clients over to fish Las Arenas. Waters were noticeably warmer as water temps crept up into the high 70’s. The winds were the key. The less wind the better the fishing.

As you can see from the photos, we started getting some dorado and I will personally tell you that there’s at least one wahoo out there swimming around with my rapala stuck in his jaw as I was bit off twice this week. The wahoo are here just not many coming aboard. It seems everyday more and more biters are hitting; cutting lines; tearing up lures but only a handful hitting the beach, but no question…the wahoo are here!!!

Also seeing more and more billfish but they’re still not real cooperative.

For our La Paz boats, some sporadic dorado action but most were fishing inshore to get away from the strong morning winds. Big pargo, cabrilla and an occasional big yellowtail were the main catches.

PERSONAL STORIES

“MY NAME IS DAVID WEHNER, AND MY WIFE’S NAME IS MARY. WE FISHED WITH YOU THREE YEARS AGO AND HAD A BLAST. WE TOOK 2 YEARS OFF AND CAME BACK DOWN ANYWAY, YOU HOOKED US UP WITH SKIPPER ADOLPHO (“YOFO”) ON MONDAY. I HAVE FISHED MOST OF MY LIFE AND AM 60 YEARS YOUNG, BUT I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM WATCHING ADOLPHO OPERATE. HE GOT US INTO A SURFACE BITE ON ROOSTERS, RED SNAPPER AND YELLOW TAIL. HE WORKED THE BOILS PERFECTLY! WE HAD GREAT LUCK, AND I GOT BURIED TWICE BY GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT! TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL FISH I HAVE EVER HOOKED! MY WIFE MARY, WHO GOT A THIRTY POUND ROOSTER IN THE BOAT WAS ALSO DELIGHTED. ”

DIVING

Waters are warming. Schools of dolphin around and we finally got whalesharks in the area

BAD MANNERS

A few days ago off Punta Perrico, all the panga fleets were working the waters for pargo. Several boats of freediving spearfishers moved right in. They set up floats and a perimeter right in the middle of our boats and into the water they went. You can imagine what that did to the bite with all the captains, crews and clients pretty pissed off. Guys are trying to make a living. There’s a ton of ocean out there. C’mon! They got chased out but by then, every pargo in the area had gone back into it’s holes. Ruined it for everyone. That’s just bad sportsmanship. The ocean is big enough for everyone.

That’s my story

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/bananas.htm

May 20, 2007 by riplipboy

INSHORE FISHING SETS THE PACE WITH LOTS OF VARIETY BUT BLUEWATER SPECIES STILL TEASING – NEW FISHING REGS THREATEN THE CORTEZ!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for May 20, 2006

PHOTO 1: Brenda Koenig from Chatsworth CA was here for her birthday and fished for the first time. She did great on these tasty pompano that suddenly showed up just off the Las Arenas Beach area.

PHOTO 2: Pound for pound it’s hard to top members of the jack family and there’s a reason why jack crevalle are called “toros” here in Mexico. “Toro” means “bull.” These chargers have two speeds. Stop and go. This 20 pounder was among several taken by Bob Duncan of Santa Barbara along the East side of Cerralvo Island including a bunch of small roosterfish, and sierra.

PHOTO 3: Jeff and Kim Howard came all the way from Portland OR to celebrate their anniversary and hang out in the sunshine for a few days and do a little fishing. Here, they’re standing at Muertos Bay with a nice cabrilla and yellow snapper.

PHOTO 4: Jillene Stevens of Alpine CA, was sure she had hooked the bottom when her rod bent over and the line wouldn’t budge! Then, “it started moving and shaking” she said. After a lengthy tussles, she pulled up this awesome pargo mulatto (barred pargo). Notice how close her panga is to the beach. Interestingly, this fish which is normally in rocky areas, hit a live sardine right off the beach where there’s nothing but sand.

THE REPORT

A good week of fishing is you liked variety down here. The fish straight out of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island were fewer, but they were bigger! A run of very large trophy-sized cabrilla set the pace mixed with pargo, larger roosterfish and the occasional 20-40 pound yellowtail with most of our fleet fishing the southern and eastern side of the island.

For our Las Arenas fleet, I counted 15 different species of fish caught by our anglers. Big jacks remained ready eat on the eastern side of the Arenas lighthouse as well as near the island with 20 pounders not uncommon. Roosters, from little 1 pound punkers up to 50 pound sluggers could be had on any given day and there are still pargo liso, dogtooth and surprisingly a large number of barred pargo still being caught. One nice surprise were the big pompano that moved in to the shallow areas near the beach and, surprisingly, every now and then a school of dorado would shoot through as well. There are still wahoo on the south end of Cerralvo, but more hookups than catches as getting them to stick seemed to be a problem. Also, we thought it was too warm for the sierra already, but some nice fat skinnies were still being taken.

Almost all the fish were taken on live bait…mostly sardines. Nothing fancy. Flurocarbon leaders do seem to make a difference. As for the weather, it’s still transitional. Winds can be pesky, especially in the mornings, but it’s all from the south. It can start windy then settle to flat calm or…ouch…it can blow all day. No way to know. In a few weeks we’ll be praying for a breeze. However, the sun is out. Air temps are in the mid to upper 80’s and water temps on the surface are on the high 70’s.

NOTES

1. The airlines seem to be misplacing alot of luggage lately. Three out of four times, it seems to be someone who rushed on the plane at the last minute. Get to the airport with plenty of time so you AND your luggage are safely aboard or you run the risk of having your underwear in Mazatlan and I have to take you on a shopping trip here in La Paz.

2. For several years, they have been very very concerned with gringos bringing mad cow disease to Mexico. They have every right to be worried. So, when you get off the plane and you go through the agriculture inspection, be prepared to lose any food products made of beef. Your slim Jim sausage, your beef jerky, etc.

BANANA CURSE STRIKES AGAIN

Those of you who know me, know how superstitious I am about bananas. I have zero tolerance for bananas on our boats. They are bad ju-ju. Too many bad things happen with them aboard. I love the yellow fruit…just not on our boats!

Anyway, this past week several of my longtime friends and clients were here and rented two of our pangas to fish Las Arenas. I was enticed to join on one of the boats to guide and figuered I would be in for a nice long lazy day since these folks know how to fish; were long time veterans or our waters; and really didn’t need my help. Well, fine and good until the smack talk started between the pangas and pretty soon serious money was on the table. It was $100 per person bets and I was included into it. (Well…I don’t have $100 bucks but I wasn’t going to Nancy-out!). So, my lazy day now dictated that if I didn’t want to lose 100 bucks, I better fish hard.

So, off we went!

As we pulled off the beach, my one amigo snickered and told me not to worry because he had hidden bananas all over his compadres fishing gear and in their panga. Cool! I’m all over that.

So we fished and we did pretty good at first. Our boat was “on fire.” We got into jacks and small roosters and other species right off the bat. Then, we hooked a big big rooster. My amigo fought it for a good half-hour. Then for no reason…POP! The hook just came out! Bye bye fish!

Shortly after, we had dorado all around the boat. We hooked 1, then 2, then 3. Yea! That’s the ticket! But again…even though we had solid hook-sets, each fish came unbuttoned! No bueno.

For the rest of the afternoon, we lost fish after fish for no reason…hooks came out. Lines busted. Just plain bad luck.

The afternoon wore on and while digging for beers at the bottom of the ice chest, we found it! Those guy had planted a banana in our own ice chest! The offending piece of fruit was quickly dispatched, but by then it was too late. We now feared the worse. We had some nice jacks, a good sized pargo, some sierra…but we had not heard all day from the other guys and were certain that they must have dogged us and gotten something big and I was feeling the loss of my 100 bucks!

Well, turns out the banana curse hit them even harder. The ONLY fish they got was a needlefish for their entire day. It was basically the ONLY boat in the entire fleet that got zero fish. We won the bet but everyone was just re-affirmed that bananas are the devil’s fruit when it comes to fishing.

ON A HEAVIER NOTE WE NEED YOUR HELP!

This past week, the Mexican government passed NOM 029, the new shark regulations for commercial fishermen in the Sea of Cortez. On it’s face, it sounds great, but it’s impact will basically devastate the Sea of Cortez and all sportfishing as you know it.

It went into effect May 15th and has already resulted in huge protests in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. More than 150 sportfishers jammed the harbor in protest and one boat was burned. Huge demonstrations have taken place. Both political parties PAN and PRI have backed the protestors. One Mexican senator has declared it illegal. Numerous unions including hotels, sportfishing, transportation and others plus the city council of Cabo San Lucas have banded together in solidarity and have acknowledged that violence is not out of the question. Already, the effects have been felt. Developers of a 200 million dollar project canceled their plans on the East Cape that same date the law went into effect.

As the new regulations went into effect on May 15th, reports of as many as 50-70 commercial boats were at the mouth of the Sea of Cortez ready to charge in and start “harvesting.”

The new law permits the more than 3000 operators with permits (each permit can have as many as 6 boats working for it) to:

1. Fish within the 50 mile protected zone from shore

2. No bag, size or weight limits on any “incidental catches (that means dorado, marlin, and other pelagic species are open game and they can take all they want)

3. Lay miles and miles of hooks up and down the Sea of Cortez

For the full blog on this, check out my webpage at: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/jonathansblog.htm

This is serious. Just yesterday, commercial boats were already setting up with the help of a spotter plane on the 88 fathom bank near Cerralvo Island as some of our boats were fishing. Reports came to me of other commercial boats setting up just 5 miles off Los Barriles on the East Cape. No limits. No discrimination on species. If it bites the hook, it’s fair.

Here’s the full breakdown of the new law: http://www.seawatch.org/mail_campaign/norma_press_release.pdf

If you want to join in and write your own letter of disgust to the Mexican government, the form letter is already there. You can alter it as you will and this form is already set up so it fires off to every agency in Mexico that can make a difference: http://www.seawatch.org/mail_campaign/norma_press_release.pdf

It will take two minutes of your time and maybe another minute to forward the link to every one you know that should be concerned about this.

Please check it out. They are already fishing!

That’s my story

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”

May 12, 2007 by riplipboy

BIG ROOSTERFISH SHOW UP AT LAS ARENAS BEACH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for May 12, 2007

PHOTO 1: Pam Kenneally of Quartz Hills had some kind of day. First time fishing Baja and first time fishing La Paz as well as her first day of fishing, she and her husband and friend got 4 huge roosters on bait near the Las Arenas lighthouse. Pam got two of them herself. They took great pains to release and revive each fish except this one which had swallowed the hook. Meat was donated.

PHOTO 2: Dave Manning of N. California took a gamble and had Captain Yofo take him outside to the buoys where some dorado had started to show up this past week. It paid off with one of the nicer and larger bull dorado of the early season. Capt. Yofo is behind him.

Photo 3 : Bob Hughes is a professor at Oregon State University. He came for some sun and fish this past week and got a number of nice pargo including this slugger “barred pargo” aka “pargo mulatto.” Great eats and highly prized!

Photo 4: He wanted his first rooster and Ray Laney of Palmdale CA took this one mere yards off the Las Arenas beach as it exploded through a school of big jacks (see photo below!). Ray and his friends released a number of big fish.

PHOTO 4 : They may not taste great, but no one seems to argue that it’s a tough combatant on rod and reel. Shane Vroman of Quartz Hills was on his first trip to La Paz and a huge school of jacks was terrorizing a bait school right in the surf near the Arenas lighthouse. Over a few days, Ray got mega bent on these jack crevalle and big-eyed-jack. This fish was released. They don’t taste too good, but make up for it with attitude.

PHOTO 6 : More than a decade ago, Tom Mooney of Fresno was one of my first customers. This past week he returned to La Paz and fished a couple of days with us. Check out this nice fat cabrilla. He was fishing north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 7 : Talk about variety! That’s what it was like this week with fishing with our Las Arenas fleet more productive than fishing out of La Paz. Ray Laney (Left from Palmdale) and Shane Vroman (right from Quartz Hills) show off their first day catch consisting of big eye jacks, cabrilla, pargo and roosters. They released just as many as they took.

THE STORY…

What a rocking fun week! I was on the water myself a few days and, for the most part, it was just one of those killer blast weeks when the sun shone, the waves flattened and the fish bit. We never knew WHAT was going to bite, but doggone…it was fun.

Let’s start at the top! Take a look at this week’s photos!

ROOSTERFISH!!!!

Yea…the pez gallo finally came out to play at Las Arenas. They’ve been teasing the last few weeks, but the fish that put Las Arenas on many fishing maps decided to do some rod bending! For those of us who fished this week, it was easy to see why the call Las Arenas, arguably the roosterfish capital of the world!

If you were over at Cerralvo Island where we had to get most of our bait, there were little coves almost teaming with small roosters. I wouldn’t even call these punk fish! I was out one day with Jeff and Kim Howard from Portland and we must have hooked ten 2-4 pound fish in minutes. It seemed some of the baits were larger than the fish. But boy…were they voracious! It was great fun on light tackle and we released all of the fish.

Over towards the lighthouse, between the lighthouse and the old Las Arenas Hotel (which by the way just got some new owners!), and right up in the surf, if you stood on the bow of the panga, you could see the dark schools moving in and out. Another day, I was with Shane Vroman and Ray Laney (see their photos above) and was up pointing out fish from the bow. The dark shapes held a combination of roosters, jack crevalle and big-eyed jacks. They could sure tear it up. Any member of the jack family has so much attitude that even smaller ones came to the boat stubbornly. There were so many fish inside that another of my friend, Jay Mirakoshi, who guides flyfishermen was fishing from the beach and suddenly I saw him doing twirls in the knee deep water as he was trying to cast.

Actually, he had his flylines wrapped around his legs! A school of jacks was swimming all around him and through his legs causing him to twirl until he was tangled! You could stay out in this area all day and keep fairly hooked up all day. The fish would eat flies, live sardines, slow trolled spoons and fast-trolled smaller rapalas.

But…the big boys were on the OTHER side of the lighthouse!

Again, standing on the bow spotting fish, the crystal waters would be empty until dark shapes started to move around and they would almost go right for whatever baits you were slow trolling. Sometimes they were jacks or smaller roosters, other times, these huge combs would suddenly emerge behind the boat and slash the baits and make your toes curl. Early in the week when I was with Shane and Ray, they guys had their lines dragging behind the boat when the back of a rooster big enough to put a saddle on and take a ride suddenly rolled up on Shane’s bait like the Loch Ness monster.

Now, get this…we’re only in about 6 feet of water! The comb stood a good 18 inches out of the water! It startled the hell out’ve all of us including Shane who gut-reacted and literally yanked the bait away from the fish in surprise almost like he didn’t want the fish to get it. (Shane’s actually a good fisherman!…but the surprise factor just had such an unnerving effect!). I try to explain this to anglers all the time about how big these fish are and how close to shore they can be!

Well, he more than made up for it. Next day, Ray and Shane and his wife Pam went back to hunt the big PG’s and got 4 big boys in the 30-50 pound class (Pam got 2!) including a bunch of jacks. This time, they took the time to go get the big 18 inch ladyfish to use as bait. You can imagine that any fish that can wrap it’s choppers around an 18 inch bait is gonna be a slugger!

All the big PG’s were released and they spent tons of time reviving each one, except the one in the photo above which swallowed the hook. (The meat was donated to the pueblo).

But their experiences were not unusual. Other anglers from our fleet and others hit into the jacks, sierra, and roosters as well.

In addtion, there are still good number of pargo lisa, dog tooth and paro mulatto (barred pargo) along the rocks at Punte Perrico and the SE end of Cerralvo Island although as the saying goes…”many are hooked…few are landed!”

As for the wahoo…yup…they are still here! Early in the week one of the pangas found a dead whale floating and nailed 10 wahoo and 2 tuna. The skipper (who used to work for me!) didn’t bother to radio in anyone else and his fellow skippers jumped his butt when he got back to shore. Next day, everyone went looking and found nothing. What a few of them DID find were dorado!!! Yea…they’re starting to show up too. Not many, but we know this is the vanguard for the body of fish.

But, back to the wahoo. I’ve had boats trolling the big rapalas back and forth early in the morning off the south end of Cerralvo. Most are getting bit and will show you the teeth marks on their lures. But for whatever reason, nothing is sticking! But no doubt…the teeth marks on these lures are the signature bite of Mr. Hoo!

One boat encountered a big school of porpoise and ran around it trying to hook tuna. Nothing happened until a bait was dropped over the side. Zzzzzzzztttttttttt….wham! Something hit the line and went straight down and down…and down until the line broke. I think it was a BIG tuna.

Marlin are around too. We got a few. Hooked a few. Lost others. Many are still not eating quite yet. One of my good amigos here, Robert Hefner said, “one day it looked like there were HUNDREDS of them on the surface!” (his words not mine!). Even if Bob was exagerrating by a little bit…that’s ALOT of billfish no matter how you look at it!

Honestly…most of the better fishing has been around Las Arenas this past week. It’s still a tad windy around the La Paz side but the deciding factor is just that the fishing has been more consistent around Las Arenas. Since I have my fleet on both sides, we’re flexible enough this time of year to be able to move folks where the fishing is better. That’s not to say there aren’t fish on the La Paz side. Our boats that have gone out are finding some great cabrilla and pargo fishing. It’s just a matter of time before La Paz opens up too!

I think the ticket here right now is to realize that things are variable. Conditions change weekly and daily. You have to fish for what’s there. Some species have a higher probability of being caught. If you gamble on some species, you could hit the jackpot or you could get a goose-egg. If you fish for what’s biting, you’ll get better results. And anything can happen!

HEADS UP – BITS and PIECES

1. For those of you who keep track of such things and for some reason do not like Mexican beer, the bar at Los Arcos Hotel now serves Heineken, Bud, Bud light, and a few other foreign beers! Cheers!

2. Bring a hat and the heavy sunscreen. It’s already HOT!

3. Restaurant Wars!!! For those of you carnivores who love to eat at the Buffalo Barbecue but sometimes find that it’s gotten so popular that you need reservations, there’s a new place called “Tres Virgines.” (Three Virgins). They built it across the street and about 40 yards down the road from the Buffalo Grill. It’s got a brick courtyard and big fireplace. Tons of ambience and a more variety on their menu than the Buffalo. I’m still a big fan of the BB, but this new place is pretty nice too. Just one more choice! The Buffalo is not standing still. Report have it that Chef Carlos is building a pasta house across the street from the Buffalo too!

4. The charming garden restaurant on the malecon waterfront known for years for it’s live jazz music and varied menu known as “The Oasis” has changed. It’s now called “The Jungle” as in “Welcome to the…” and is now an outdoor drinking bar and nightclub. Will miss the Oasis.

That’s my 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: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, 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.”