Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘bahia de los muertos’

P1000837 ron rooster tags 6-13

We will never know! Salute to Ron Burgess of Temecula CA. This fish might have been a new world record roosterfish! But he released this fish knowing it was a big boy plus he and his amigos released 28 other huge roosters! This fish might have broken the IGFA record 114 pounder set in 1960. Estimated weight by captains were 120-140 pounds. It took at least 45 minutes on 40 pound test and three guys to lift it in the panga and 3 to release it where it swam away “still pissed off!”

Ron Rooster 3 tags 6-13

Another view of the big rooster just put in the boat. There were few photos as they wanted to get the fish back into the water as quickly as possible. Plus Ron couldn’t hold the massive fish up high enough to photo! Captain Loreto Green helps out. The fish was caught just off Punta Perico in shallow water using a big ladyfish for bait.  Full story below.

Taylor Murphey tags dorado flex 6-13

Love the pose and attitude! She’s had a great vacation catching dorado and wahoo this week, but Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA show some game with her big bull dorado taken near Cerralvo Island. Uncle Roger holds up the fish with smiles!

Bob Jennessee and Kirt Schlander tags 6-13 dorado-proc

Kurt Schlander lends a hand to his amigo, first timer, Bob Jennessee and another big bull dorado from Las Arenas. Kurt has been with us several times. All the dorado were big this week. Not many, but they were big models!

Dave Lester tags amberjack 6-13

One signal that the waters are still chillier than normal is that we’re still getting amberjack like this big toad fish that Dave Lester holds up! These are the big cousins to yellowtail. Great eating and can go over 100 pounds. We had one several weeks ago that might have just been short of the 155 pound world record.

Jeannine Stenzel dorado tags 6-13

“Did I really catch this?” Couldn’t be a cuter photo of our amiga, Jeanine Stenzel, from Nor. Cal who got into several ice sized dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. She’s holding the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Great colors!

Rooster Al Janc tags 6-13

Al Janc was fishing close to shore and got into it with another monster pez gallo roosterfish. I can’t remember a better rooster season than this one . Fish was released.

Dorado whitlow 2 6-13 tags

Mike Whitlow is a professional bass fisherman and specializes in using light tackle everytime he visits us from Washington. Mike got this fish north of La Paz. Fresh out’ve the water, the colors are incredible!

dog tooth pancho tags 6-13

We got some really nice pargo this week like this hefty pargo…dog tooth snapper pulled out’ve the rocks near Las Arenas. Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet does the honors on the beach.

dorado nancy lerch 6-13 tags

Lucky sunglasses for Captain Adolfo and Nancy Lerch with another big-time trophy dorado and big smiles. This was one of several.

Ryan and Ed Vander Veer tags dorado 6-13

Father, Ed Vander Veer from Washington and son, Ryan show off a great pair of bull dorado standing in the waters at Balandra Bay having fished north of La Paz where some waters are finally turning blue and sargasso patches are finally producing some dorado like these!

tuna grande tags 6-13

Everyone keeps asking if there’s tuna . Well, no one has really caught any yet this season but this slug 178 pounder was taken this week off the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island by one of the commercial captains. So, I guess there’s at least one tuna out there. However, following days produced nothing. But still exciting!

Jerry Pederson dorado Boli 6-13 tags

Our Captain Boli makes a funny face helping first-timer visitor, Jerry Pederson, from Washington with a nice mahi taken near Espirito Santo Island. We’re hopeful that the dorado bite continues to get better . The fish are having a late start this season.

dorado Bob Benjamin  tags 6-13

Here’s another trophy mahi that Bob Benjamin caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob was visiting us for the first time and has big grins.

dorado xavier lerch tags 6-13

Making a great fashion statement…cool hat…cigar…billowing guide shirt! Total GQ! Xavier Lerch has a huge bull mahi dorado he caught with out Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet on one of the days where nothing was smaller than 30 pounds.

aeromexico (1)

Hooray! La Paz finally has direct flights again from Los Angeles! This past week, Aero Mexico started flights from LAX to La Paz and will be flying on Sundays and Thursdays. We have not had direct flights for months!

Big yellowtail roger 6-13 tags

Usually our amigo, Roger Thompson is a virtual poster child on the Tailhunter fishing report with big fish after big fish, but this is too funny! Everyone keeps asking if there are still yellowtail around. Well…uh…yea…LOL…Roger caught this guy all the way out on the 88! Great parting shot!

VIDEO of the WEEK!

Here is some video footage of our good amigo, Roy Stenzel’s first marlin that he caught this week.  It’s great!  Roy sent it to me and said, “Excuse me if at the end I squeal like a little girl!”  The enthusiasm sure comes through.  Proudly, hat’s off…he also released the fish!  It’s short and fun.  Take a look!

BIG WEEK FOR FEW FISH BUT BIG FISH INCLUDING AN ALMOST WORLD RECORD ROOSTERFISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-23, 2013

What a week of fishing! In all honesty, it was not a great week of fishing.  Rather, it was a week of great fish!  So many large fish this week. It was literally quality over quantity.  We didn’t get a lot of fish, but the fish we got were really something to see including one fish that could have been a world record but we’ll never know!

The big rooster fish was caught by Ron Burgess of Temecula CA.  Ron and his group of 4 fished 5 days and boated 28 rooster fish with nothing smaller than 50 pounds.  Many of the fish were 70-90 pounds plus some hefty amberjack and dog tooth snapper.  They released every single one of their rooster fish so bravo to them!  Just an outstanding trip.

But, Ron’s fish was something to see.  Ron battled the huge rooster right off the rocks near Punta Perico next to the famous Las Arenas lighthouse which is arguably part of the “roosterfish capital of the world” which extends down to the East Cape area as well.  Las Arenas produced the world record 114-pounder in 1960 and Ron’s fish was estimated by several of our captains at “55-65 kilos” which would have bested the IGFA record by 10-20 pounds!

We will never know!  Tailhunters has a certified IGFA scale, but Ron and his guys like true sportsmen released all of their huge rooster fish!  Ron fought the fish for “better than 45 minutes” on 40 pound test using an 18-inch ladyfish for live bait.  “I was a head shaker the whole time!”

It took three of them to heft the big fish as gently as possible into the panga and they tried to lip-gaff the fish with as little harm to the fish as possible.  They got it in the boat; took some quick photos (which is why the photos aren’t that great and also because Ron simply could not lift the fish!) and then it took 3 of them to get it back in the water where it , “swam off strongly still pissed off” said Ron!

Ron said laughingly, “I was exhausted and beat up, but I picked up another bait and tossed it in and figured I’d rest, but another huge rooster grabbed it and I was hooked up again!  What an idiot!”

This is the 2nd monster fish from our area that might have been an IGFA consideration as an amberjack estimated at 135 pounds caught by Kevin Takatani was taken just a few week ago but was cut up before it could be weighed.  The IGFA record is 155 pounds.  We’ll never know!  But the legendary waters of La Paz and Las Arenas keep kicking out some super fish!

For the rest of the fishing, it was truthfully, hit-or-miss.  Some pangas would do well while others nearby didn’t fare so well.  Waters are still very turned over with warm water on the surface, but colder green water not too far below the surface.  However, the fish that were caught were generally the larger models.  Dorado “averaged” 20 to 40 pounds.  Pargo “averaged” 30 pounds.  Cabrilla “averaged 10 pounds.”  Sure there were smaller fish, but overall, the fish were really bigger or pretty much nothing!

We did have some wahoo and marlin and sailfish hook-ups but overall, the warm water season is really taking it’s time to get going!  Normally by this time of year, we are well into the billfish and dorado.  Not so this year!

Part of the problem also is that the winds keep jumping up and pushing that cold water up and around and disturbing the water conditions.  By now the winds should be long gone.  It seems like things are getting better with more blue water showing up but too early to commit at this time.

But, bottom line, we’re having the best roostefish season in my 20 years here!  For the last two months, La Paz had certainly been living up to it’s reputation for rooster fish.  More fish and bigger roosters than we’ve ever seen!

 MEXICO FLUBS FISHING LICENSES!

If you had not already heard, Mexico’s CONAPESCA committed a huge SNAFU!    They failed to print out enough fishing licenses for the country and for vendors like Tailhunters to sell to their clients!  That’s literally ha-zillions of licenses and lost revenue not to mention another shot-in-the-foot to the sportfishing and tourism industry making one more obstacle to come fishing!

Whereas normally, you could walk into our shop or office or most offices of outfitters in Mexico and purchase the blue tags, now one must go on line and struggle with the CONAPESCA website that often crashes and is highly unreliable.  That, of course assumes that you have internet and have a printer so you can print it out!  Many people still are not internet savvy or do not have online access or printers!

But, with patience, the system DOES work!  Here is the link below plus a video describing how to do it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueV0ov9mAxY

You  can purchase the online and it is important that you buy them before coming down.  Here is the website:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in southern Baja has to purchase their licenses this way! 
  • Make sure you forward this to everyone in your party who is coming down or purchase the fishing licenses for them. 

 

We found another option to the ridiculous frustration of trying to purchase fishing licenses online through the idiotic CONAPESCA Mexico website that keeps crashing!

My friend Tom Ward has a huge tackle shop in Orange Co. California and he has a stock of Mexican licenses on hand and sells them!  He mails them back to your regular mail but processes them the same day he gets the request:

Here’s the info:  http://www.thelongfin.com/mexican-fishing-license.html.  Their phone is:  714-538-8010.

You can also get them from CONAPESCA San Diego, but must send a cashier’s check.  They also process the same day.  Here’s the link:  http://www.conapescasandiego.org/.  Their phone number is: 619-233-4324

So, unlike the Mexican CONAPESCA site, at least there’s a phone number to talk to someone who speaks English!  Nuts that it is easier to purchase fishing licenses in someplace like California than in Mexico.

Landing in places like San Diego as well as many other local tackle stores, especially if you are in S. California have the licenses for sale or over the phone!

Hope that helps!!!  Sorry for the craziness. We’re as frustrated as everyone else!

 AERO MEXICO NOW DIRECT TO LA PAZ!

We also wanted to welcome Aero Mexico to La Paz.  We finally have a new airline servicing our city!  After many anticipated months, Aero Mexico started flying Sundays and Thursdays direct to La Paz from Los Angeles.  Great for all of us!

That’s our story!  Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

Don White dorado tags 6-13

With one of the larger dorado of the week, our frequent La Paz amigo, Don White of Oregon, was out at the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island when he nailed this beautiful mahi. Dorado action seemed like it was trying hard to get up to speed, but frequent winds kept the bluewater fish a bit reluctant.

rooster ty mitchell tags 6-13

Ty Mitchell from Washington was on his first visit to La Paz with Tailhunters and, over the better part or the week boated jack crevalle, dorado, snapper, sierra, bonito and several other species as well as his first roosterfish of his angling career like this one that he hooked and released near Cerralvo Island off Las Arenas.

Richard amber 6-13 tags

Or amigo, Rich Sawaski from Clovis CA put the wood to this great eating amberjack just off the rocks near Punta Perico in shallow water. These tough fish get over 100 pounds and are related to yellowtail, jack crevalle, pompano and roosterfish.

dorado nina duc le tags 6-13

New Mexico aboard with dorado! Nina Duc Le from Albuquerque NM, with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter Fleet was fishing with us for her first time. Big smiles and some great color off this fresh bull dorado!

rooster randy yofo 6-13 tags

Big smiles from Captain Adolfo and Randy Forestiere posing with another roosterfish just off the beach at Las Arenas. The roosters have been right off the sand now for about 4 weeks.  The fish was released.

grouper Deryck Matallah 6-13 tags

A good day of fishing for Deryck Matallah from Los Angeles who released all their fish except this big-time grouper taken out’ve La Paz. Largest grouper we’ve seen so far this year!

Jack Sawaske barred pargo 6-13 tags

A colorful tasty barred pargo (pargo mulatto) is a feisty tough rock fish that we’ve been seeing alot of lately. It’s tough to pull these guys off the reefs, but Jack Sawaske, celebrating his birthday poses with a nice fish.

dorado juan santana tags 6-13

Juan Santana from Washington trying to find the handle of good-looking dorado that is still struggling after coming out’ve the water. Juan was on his first trip with us and got this mahi with a live sardine. We saw more dorado again this week, but the full run hasn’t quite taken off.

Fred sawaske tags rooster 6-13

On his first trip with us, Fred Sawaske fished 3 days with us and got a variety of fish including another rooster which was released.

juan santana tags jack crevalle tags 6-13

Juan Santana is a character. We’ve got alot of rampaging schools of jack crevalle right now in the shallows near shore. Related to amberjack, pompano and yellowtail as well as roosterfish, Juan strikes a pose with his fish off Punta Perico.

rooster duc le tags 6-13

Jonathan Duc Le shows off his first-ever roosterfish that he caught just inside of Muertos Bay near where we launch our pangas off the beach. Jonathan is from New Mexico.  This fish was released. 

BILL HUBER flyfising rooster 5-13

Flyfishers have been having a great time on the roosterfish bite. Col. Bill Huber from Alaska says he got “schooled” trying to battle the roosters, but got the better of this trophy fish several hundred yards from the Las Arenas lighthouse.  All roosters for the week were released. 

Ty Juan beach 6-13 tags

Great sample of a good day of fishing variety right now…dorado…yellowtail…snapper…pargo…plus they released roosterfish…Juan Santana and Ty Mitchell show off a bit on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

FLURRIES OF DORADO SPICE DECENT INSHORE FISHING WITH ROOSTERS JACKS AND REEFFISH

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 2-9, 2013

We had a variable week of fishing this past week with seemingly a little of everything including fishing reports that ran the gamut from “just OK” to “very good.”  There was no way to say how fishing was going to be from one day to the next as changing water conditions and wind conditions seemed to have a major affect on the bite.

One day, we’d have great rooster fishing and the next day, the roosters were “no-show” but the pargo and snapper and cabrilla were willing to bite.  Likewise, we got all fired-up about the dorado that we were sure had finally arrived and would have a regular bite.  But, again…one day we’d have good dorado then the next day no dorado to speak of!

One boat could have a banner day of fishing with several species of fish and a boat next to it would struggle to get a bite.  It was crazy.  We did have a lot of species, however…roosters…jack crevalle…bonito…dorado…snapper…pompano…sierra…yellowtail…amberjack…several species of pargo…

This is all pretty typical of the type of fishing this time of year and something we just have fun with during the time.  As waters continue to warm, more blue water fishing usually become more evident.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

amber marianne tags 5-13

A number of the ladies had banner a banner week on the fishing like Marianne Sugawara from Cypress CA who fishes with Tailhunter several times a year. With Captain Joel she was out east of Espirito Santo Island when she got into a really sweet bite of big amberjack including this 45-50 pound slug. The ambers get over 100 pounds and are great eating big-cousins of yellowtail.

yellowtail ehlers 5-13 tags

It’s getting a little late in the season, but where there’s still areas of the cooler water, we’re still finding a few stray yellowtail. North of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island has been a good spot for fish like this one that Tyler Ehlers got. Tyler’s from Grand Junction CO.

Stacey rooster 5-13-tags

One of my favorite photos! Just sheer exhuberance from Stacey Wellborn who battled this big roosterfish right off the surf near the Las Arenas lighthouse. The rooster was released. Captain Jorge from the Tailhunter Fleet has a big smile as well.

marlin tags 5-13

With the waters warming, we’re finally seeing some billfish with striped marlin and sailfish moving into the area. Even moreso than just seeing them, some of them are actually ready to feed and we had several hookups this week including one one a big blue at the 88 spot near Cerralvo Island. Roger Thompson took this beautiful shot and beautiful striper near the island and attempts to revive the fish were not successful. Quite a few fish were hooked and then fought their way off lighter tackle during the week.

Mike Schoeder flyfishing rooster tags watermark 5-13-proc-proc

With so much great inshore action along the beaches, the light tackle and flyfishers are having a blast…especially on the roosterfish! Mike Schoeder from Alaska came to enjoy some sunshine and had a great week bending his flyrod and nice roosters like this one taken off the Las Arenas lighthouse. (Thanks for the photo, Mike!)

Ehlers rooster tags 5-13

John Ehlers has made a number of trips to fish with us here at Tailhunters in La Paz, but called his past trip “his best.” John, from the Denver CO area, spent the better part of a week on roosters, pargo, cabrilla, yellowtail and amberjack including this big rooster near Las Arenas.

dorado jeff sakuda tags 5-13

The appearance of doroda the last week has given rise to optimism that the waters are finally warming and we’ll be seeing some of the blue-water species moving in and indeed this past week we saw more dorado in the water. Jeff Sakuda from Montebello CA got great color on this bull dorado when he fished with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter Fleet out front of La Ventana across from Cerralvo Island.

Allen Wellborn amberjack 5-13- tags

Allen Wellborn from Northern California called this hefty amberjack one of the toughest fish he has ever fought. Allen took the slugger near Espirito Santo Island near Isla Ballena. Sardines, mackerel and iron jigs are working well on the big ambers.

Huge needlefish 6-13-semi tag

These needlefish are the scourge and pests of our panga fishermen as they steal baits and rip up lines. But, most are 2-3 feet long . Check out this beast! Keep your fingers around from it’s mouth or you’ll find out why they are called “needlefish!”

ROOSTERFISH CENTERSTAGE BUT WARMER WATERS HERALD MORE DORADO AND BILLFISH

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 26 to June 2, 2013

It’s been a good solid steady week of fishing with pretty much a lot of smiles and grins and stories of “biggest fish ever”….”my first dorado”…”finally a rooster fish”…”so much variety”…”he busted off after an hour!”

That’s a pretty good week!

Again, the rooster fish were star attractions as we seem to be in the best rooster fish action I’ve seen here in almost 20 years.  It’s been almost a month of multiple-fish per boat.  Light tackle…flyfishers…spin fishermen…lure fishermen…bass fishermen…everyone is having a hoot right up close to the beaches and rocks with fish going 10, 20, 40…even larger.

Almost all the fish are getting released too but they just keep coming back!  That speaks well of the survival rate of these fish as well as their tenacity and voraciousness as well as kudos to the anglers for letting so many fish go…to fight again the next day!

These fish are not far. Literally in just a few feet of water and just yards off the surfline in many cases. Tales of larger fish come back every day as well.  It’s one thing if a fisherman says he saw or hooked an 80 pound rooster, but it’s quite a different story when it’s one of our captains saying that an “80 pound rooster was lost!”

In these same areas, there’s good schools of feisty jack crevalle, african pompano, golden trevally and other members of the jack family and still the occasional sierra although waters may have finally passed the warming mark and the cooler water fish have moved on.

However, in deeper waters, the big excitement were the school dorado that finally moved in.  Swarming schools of fun 10-15 pound youngsters provided some great furious action late in the week but some 20-25 pounders were mixed in plus we got a few in the 30-40 pound class as well.

Add to that some marlin hookups lost as well as a few sailfish taken and released and it looks like things might be turning the corner to warmer conditions although we still had a great week on some yellowtail and super-sized amberjack north of La Paz where waters were still cooler below the thermocline.

We are still getting pesky early morning winds in La Paz that are making it a bit rough to go out in the morning from the Bay.  We thought we had finally hit summer, but as normally happens in May, we get one more blast of colder temps.  Towards the end of the week, the winds kicked in again and made fishing the La Paz side much more difficult and certainly more bumpy so most of our anglers fished the Las Arenas side where winds and seas were calmer.

If you’re going to be visiting us in the next week or so, it’s not a bad idea to bring that windbreaker or light sweatshirt.  It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.  You can always take it off!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

roosterfish tags 1 5-13

From Chicago to the Roosterfish Capital…Captain Pancho gives Tim Sayre a hand posing with this colorful exotic roosterfish just off the beach near the Las Arenas lighthouse where the roosters again put on a show this past week.  This fish and all their roosters were released.

yellowtail tags jorge 5-13

Happy Hombre! Our amigo, Jorge Romero hoists a nice late season yellowtail he pulled up on a yo-yo yellow and brown iron near Cerralvo Island. He also lost a huge cabrilla shortly after on the iron as well. The presence of yellowtail tells us that there’s still cooler waters around!

SAYRE pompano tags 5-13

Bob Sayre looks like he’s not quite sure what he’s holding, but our amigo is holding a HUGE pompano that ended up on the dinner plate at our Tailhunter Restaurant. Bob’s standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos and caught this on a live bait near Punta Perico.

pompano tags tom ames 5-13

A battle-scarred pompano that our buddy, Tom Ames from Idaho, took on a flyrod that wore out both man and fish! We’ve had a run of nice big pompano. Note the flat waters and how close it was caught to the beach!

rooster randy choate tags 5-13

Randy Choate was here last year with us and wanted to get into some nice roosters. Looks like he’s trying to suppress a smile over this nice roosterfish taken in flat waters out of Bahia de Los Muertos.  They caught a number of these and released all the roosters.

dorado Laurie Kennedy 5-13

I’m really surprised we’re not catching more dorado right now given that our air temperatures are in the 90’s and it’s almost June. But cooler waters have hung on so there’s only sporadic dorado fishing…so far! But Laurie Kennedy from Washington got one in Bahia de Los Muertos fishing close to the rocks in flat waters with Captain Adolfo.

rooster ken fritz tags 5-13

Ken Fritz from Sacramento called this “the best fishing day ever!” He got into the great roosterfish bite right off the lighthouse beach at Las Arenas and caught and released a number of these roosters!

PEZ GALLO ESTEBAN Rooster tags LAS ARENAS 002

First rooster ever for amigo, Esteban Romero, who is very familiar to many of our fishing clients! Captain Fernando helps with the honors. This fish was released and was caught on a live sardine.

Andrew McCormick pulled up this fat barred pargo near Espirito Santo Island working a live bait near the rocks.  Great eating fish!  Andrew is from the Portland OR area.

Andrew McCormick pulled up this fat barred pargo near Espirito Santo Island working a live bait near the rocks. Great eating fish! Andrew is from the Portland OR area.  Andrew was on his first trip with Tailhunter to La Paz.

Jesus sierra 5-13-tags

Hard to believe this late in the season that we’re still getting sierra, but the tasty toothy fish are still hanging off the beaches which means we still have cool water hanging out as well. Young Jesus was out fishing for the very first time and give’s a thumbs up to Captain Fernando and this nice sierra that ended up as a big plate of fresh ceviche!

Kenton McGuire roosterfish tags 5-13

Holding it high! Kenton McGuire from Santa Barbara was on his first trip to La Paz with his dad for a quick vacation before heading off to the Air Force Academy and pulled in this trophy roosterfish as well as several others. All were released.

ROOSTERFISH STILL CENTERSTAGE OF SOLID INSHORE ACTION

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 12-19, 2013

Another solid week of some of the best rooster fishing of the season.  The hot spot extends from the famous Punta Arenas lighthouse and that area of white beaches south through Bahia de los Muertos and down to Boca de Alamo to the south.  This is the area that has the reputation as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World” and extends to the East Cape area as well.

It’s surely living up to it as many folks who have never caught roosters are getting multiple hookups.  The roosters are right up close to the sandy beaches in several feet of water.

As some of our anglers put it, “We’ve been surrounded by roosters every day!”  

These fish are running 10-50 pounds with some larger ones breaking off especially as anglers drop down their gear to have some fun on lighter tackle!  

“Every cast was a bite, but these fish are tough on the light tackle!”

“I had no idea how much they fight.  I’m outgunned.  I brought a light spinning rod and got broke off on the first fish and got spooled on the 2nd fish before we could chase it with the panga!”

“What fun…hooked, released and lost over 25 fish and I’m whupped!  I couldn’t stop a few that simply broke off!” 

In these same areas, there’s been a nice run of pompano up to 15-20 pounds plus schools of jack crevalle also marauding the bait schools along the beaches.

Our flyfishers have been having a blast casting to these fish as they boil along the beaches as well.

The rocks have been producing good action on pargo and cabrilla as well as the occasional yellowtail as the waters have not been warming as expected so we’re in a lingering transition with cooler and warmer waters all in the same areas.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International of La Paz for Week of May 5-12, 2013

rooster scott Mcguire 5-14 tags

Roosterfishing has been on fire this past week! Big fish and tremendous action! Check out Scott McGuire’s big rooster that he caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet while fishing with his son. They caught and released several big fish.

rooster al rodriguez 5-13 tags

One of my favorites photos of the week…Al Rodriguez with one of his roosters. Great colors and the big smile is priceless! Nothing beats fishing for roosters on light tackle and check out how close to the beach he’s fishing! This fish was released as were all his roosters.

Kevin Kennedy tags dorado 5-13

Definitely NOT a salmon! Kevin Kennedy came to visit us from Washington for the first time and got this gorgeous early season dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. With waters warming, we should be seeing more dorado.

dan and andrew tags 5-13

Our frequent amigo, Dan McCormick from the Portland area, brought his son, Andrew down with him for the first time and they did especially well fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet knocking out a number of solid yellowtail, pargo, and this fat amberjack over several days!

yellowtail kevin chang tags 5-13

Kevin Kennedy and I have been fishing amigos for many years, but I haven’t seen him visiting us in La Paz for a long time. He finally made it down and shows off one of the yellowtail he caught of Espirito Santo Island. The yellowtail are getting more scarce as the waters get warmer.

Bob Coon rooster tags 5-13

For everyone who asks all the time about our popular Capt. Pancho, he wraps himself up all the time with his hoodie, hat and bandana because he’s alergic to excessive sun which is hard for a panga captain in Baja! But he’s one of our best and probably more of us should follow his lead when it comes to sunburn! But check out this trophy rooster he got for Bob Coon just off the sand at Las Arenas near the lighthouse! The fish and others were released.

rooster JP tags 5-13 two

Big boy slugger roosterfish for my old amigo from Florida, JP Perkin, who I first met more than 20 years ago when he was running a famous tackle store on the pier in Santa Barbara CA before moving to Florida! Great fisherman! Nice rooster that got released.

Laurie Reynolds rooster tags edit 5-13

What a great photo! Laurie Reynolds of Long Beach was out with our amigos, Roger and Donna Thompson, and they got into a fast and furious roosterfish bite at Boca de Alamo south of Bahia de los Muertos! I love the colors in this photo. Thanks, Roger! The ladies really did well this week!

kuhn cabrilla 5-13 tags

When my amigo, Bill Kuhn, pulled this one up off Espirito Santo Island while fishing with our Captain Joel, we figured it was the biggest cabrilla we had ever seen, but on closer exam…it’s a grouper! Made for some great fat fillets! Bill lives in Laguna Beach CA.

roosterfish adolfo and Laurie tags 5-13

All smiles…must be the cool sunglasses! Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Laurie Kennedy from Washington on her first visit to La Paz and her first rooster!

mantas-tags 5-13

Couldn’t pass up this great photo of a school of manta rays passing by one of our fishing pangas in the blue water of the Sea of Cortez. Thanks for the photo, Kevin!

ROOSTERFISH PUT ON A SHOW AT LAS ARENAS!  MAYBE BEST EVER…

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 5-12, 2013

We’ve have an incredible week of variety and one of the best weeks of rooster fishing that I can remember!  I guess there’s a reason they call our area the “Roosterfish Capital of the World. ”

I was getting a bit worried about the roosterfish because normally by March or so we’ve got pretty decent biters and it’s fairly consistent by May.  But up to about 3 weeks ago, it had only been hit-or-miss in that famous area near the Las Arenas lighthouse where the world record 114-pounder had been caught a number of years ago.

Roosterfish are one of the most prized and sought-after species in our area.  Extremely exotic, anglers come from all over the world to get a shot at them with their fiery black racing stripes and iconic dorsal fins.  These fish inhabit the pristine white sandy beaches and blue waters of the southern Baja and perhaps no more prolifically than in the 10 or so miles of beaches around Las Arenas and down towards the East Cape…but especially the lighthouse.

These fish can be found in waters that are only a few feet deep and are known to tear up the bait schools of sardines and mullet that come into these areas at this time of year.  The fish can be school-sized 5-10 pounders but 10-40 pounders are not uncommon and an incredible sport for flyfishers and light tackle anglers.

The fish this week have stormed the beaches with our pangas getting 2, 4, 8 or more roosterfish per day with fish in the 20-60 pound class and some larger getting away!  Many anglers are getting their first ever plus more.  Others are getting their personal best largest roosters!  These are hard-charging members of the jack family and often the pangas have to chase the fish up and down the beach to keep up with them!

As a bonus in the same areas, there’s some monster jack crevalle, also known for their tenacity and known as “toros” in Spanish which appropriately means “bull.”  As well, there is another member of the jack family in these same areas which are the African pompano.  The great thing about the pompano is that they make for incredible eating whereas the jack crevalle and roosterfish taste terribly with their black/ red stringy meat and almost all those fish get released.

In other action, the reefs and rocks are producing good action on cabrilla (sea bass), pargo (several varieties up to 20 pounds) plus some big amberjack up to 40 pounds and sierra.  Yellowtail continue to hit, but sporadically.  The best spot is now north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.  Waters are warming and we expect the yellowtail will continue to diminish and more blue-water species like dorado moving in.  I’m seeing more sargasso around the channels and the influx of the floating seaweed is a good sign that dorado will also be arriving soon.  So far, we’ve had some dorado already in but we’re waiting for the main body to show up!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

Read Full Post »

Rooster Dover tags 4-13

We’ve finally had a good appearance of roosterfish, the kind that made Las Arenas the “roosterfish capital of the world.” The fish have been 10-50 pounders and right near the beach. Check out Leif Dover’s big pez gallo taken right off the sand near the Arenas lighthouse. Leif got several of these and released all of them. We encourage releasing the roosters…great exotic fighters, but don’t taste very good and most guys voluntarily are voluntarily releasing them although you’re allowed to keep them. It’s good to see them getting released.

pompano tags jp perkin 5-13

Super photo of another member of the jack family…related to yellowtail, amberjack, jack crevalle…this big pompano was hooked by our amigo of many years, JP Perkin, who used to own a famous tackle store on the Santa Barbar pier in California but now lives in Florida and came to spend a few weeks in La Paz with us. These make incredible eating…and especially sashime! Almost better than yellowtail!

Wayne yellowtail tags

Yellowtail still biting, especially north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island. They’re diminishing as the waters are warming but some of the one’s we’re getting are still 20-40 pound fish like this nice one that Wayne and Captain Rogelio are showing off here.

Jerry Sylvia 5-13 pompano tags

Jerry Sylvia holds the tail gaff on another sweet-sized pompano. The fish have moved in the last few weeks but I can’t remember seeing so many larger ones caught as we have this year. Jerry came to visit us from Santa Barbara CA

Amberjack 2-Dover 5-13-tags

This is the time of year…late spring…when these big slugs show up. The Mexican name for them is “Pez Fuerte” (amberjack). They are horses and they are the bigger cousins of yellowtail and roosterfish and THEY TASTE GREAT!!! These fish get up over 100 pounds. Leif Dover had a pretty epic week on these all the way from Georgia. This big guy was probably over 50 pounds!

WARM AND COLD WATER SPECIES MIX IT UP FOR THE WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 28- May 5, 2013

It wasn’t a bad week of fishing, but it was’t a great week of fishing either.  There was certainly a lot of action in terms of getting rods bent, but just not a lot of quality fish that came up.  But, also some of that had to do with the type of fish that were getting hooked as well.

Like I said, there was some fairly decent action as we had good numbers of pargo, cabrilla, sierra, pompano and bonito ripping around.  Great great fun on light tackle.  Some dorado were also showing up to 25 pounds.  And there’s rooster fish up to 40 pounds plus jack crevalle in the same area.  So, some great varieties!

But, in terms of quality, we just didn’t see much.  But then again, the “quality” fish were the type that have a lot going for them…like ROCKS!

We did get yellowtail again.  Fewer, but many of those busted guys off in the rocks, but we still showed some in the 20-30 pound class.  The best area has been the east side of Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz.  That’s an area where there’s still a big body of cooler water according to the satellite images of the water temperatures.  As well, their bruiser cousins, the amberjack also made a great showing with fish up to 60 pounds, but again, it’s a lot  harder to put a 60 pound fish in the boat than a 10 pound fish and although guys were hooking them, they mostly broke off.  Same for the larger pargo and cabrilla.  If you can’t get them out’ve the rocks, the overall fish counts don’t look very good.  Good fishing.  Bad catching.

Waters are in that transition mode and passing through a warming phase so we’re expecting to go from cooler water to warmer water species any week now.  There’s some good fingers of warm water and sargasso is starting to build up in the channels which bodes well for dorado season coming up!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

Steve's Yellowtail tags 4-13

Good amigo, Steve Hartsook, from N. California has been visiting us for years and came down earlier this year than normal finally getting into some nice yellowtail fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet despite some pesky winds.

yellowtail verda tags 4-13

Retired Sherriff’s officer, Verda Boyd, usually comes with her husband, Tim, in December and the way the winds blew this week, it might’ve been about that cold! But Verda came without Tim for some yellowtail fishing and produced this hefty forkie fishing off Espirito Santo Island with Captain Joel.

pargo kwame tags 4-13

Big red pargo lisos (mullet snapper) for Kwame Satterfield who was visiting us from Antioch, CA. The double catch was taken while Kwame was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. He’s posing here at Bahia de Los Muertos. The big snapper/pargo are schooling in the shallows right now.

rooster tags joel jeff brown 4-13

We just started getting some good roosterfishing the last week or two and most of them have been quality pez gallos. Jeff Brown from Minnesota caught and released this beauty off Espirito Santo Island. There have been some good schools showing up with some nice quality fish to start the season.

DCIM100GOPRO

Happy smiles from Yolanda Wheeler. Her first time ever on the ocean…first time ever fishing on the ocean…and her first fish on the ocean…a nice dorado! She was so excited she was jumping up and down in the panga!  One of our first dorado of the season also!

Rod brown yellowtail joel tags 4-13

Far from home, but always welcome, Rod Brown visits us several times a year from distant Wrangell, Alaska! He always does well. Maybe two of the last yellowtail of the changing season, Rod’s posing with Captain Joel from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

wahoo tags russell 4-13

Jackson, Mississippi in the house! Randall Carrier came a long way to visit us on his first trip and it paid off (just before the winds kicked up) with this nice wahoo on his first day and first day ever! The wahoo was stuck at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

Chuck Fiola Cal Lambert tags pargo sierra 4-13

Two of our newest amigos, Chuck Fiola from Washington and Cal Lambert from Colorado have an nice rack of pargo and sierra they caught while fishing off Las Arenas with us last week.

Bob Patterson dog tooth pargo tags 4-13-proc

Nice dog-tooth snapper aka “cubera snapper” or “pargo perro”, in the hands of Bob Patterson.

DSC00418

PARTING SHOT! When fishing is already tough, don’t complicate it! Our resident amigo and fishing champ had a tough day…then found out later that “someone” had put bananas aboard! This was the only fish caught on the panga all day! For those who don’t know…bananas are bad luck!

STRONG WINDS BLOW APART THE BITE !

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 7-14, 2013

After such a spectacular week two weeks ago, Mother Nature kicked up again to remind us that there are some things we still can’t control and we really had a difficult week of fishing.  The bugaboo winds that really determine all things down here howled and blew demonically and either damped the fishing or outright, kept our anglers off the water.

It’s too bad because we were really charging  into (what I thought!) was high gear.The previous week we had our first big tunas…the best wahoo bite in severe seasons…big rooster fish show up…first dorado of the season…big pargo and cabrilla finally kick in…some solid yellowtail still biting…we were kicking up our heels and ready to charge!

And then this week came on.  As they say…”in like a lion.”  The winds roared.

Actually, our weather seemed to reflect what much of the west to middle of the U.S. and Canada got…cold temperatures, high winds…  One day we just brought all the boats back to shore.  Another day we just “suggested” it might not be so good to go out and told everyone to just stay back on the beach rather than get beat up (they had other extra days to make up  the missed day).  Two of the rare occasions when we maybe could have gone out, but why?  Go out and get beat and wet?  It’s supposed to be fun.

On a few other days, it was just too rough to even get bait or get to the fishing areas.  So, this resulted in really slow fishing.  So, that was pretty much the story of the week.

When we did get out, we did get a few yellowtail, some dorado.  Some sierra.  Some nice rooster fish were also caught.  We did get two marlin hooked and dropped.  As well, some pargo were taken.  But, I need to be honest…it was a stinky week.  We’ve had better.

The good thing about fishing the Baja…it doesn’t stay bad for long.  We should turn the corner again…probably by the time you’re reading this.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

wahoo bruce bob patterson tags 4-13

REAL FISH!!! The REAL THING! Big wahoo for Bruce Dodge (estimated 60 pounder) and Bob Patterson with a nice one of his own taken at the south end of Cerralvo Island in the best wahoo bite we’ve seen in 2 years with wahoo free-swimming around the pangas!

tuna ken gragg 4-13 tags

It was a great week of firsts for us…first dorado of the season…first roosterfish of the season…best wahoo in two years…and the first tuna of the season including this great thumper of a 50-60 pound class yellowfin. Ken Gragg, our amigo, spent 90 minutes dueling this guy on 30 pound test!

Dale van Dellen and Don Goglia pargo 4-13

This was also our first real pargo bite as well! Check out these tasty hard-fighting pargo liso (mullet snapper) by Dale Van Dellen and Don Goglia. The fish are spawning in the shallow high spots .

Ed Flannigan tags 4-13 wahoo

Brian Davis…all the way out from Louisiana hangs ’em high with this speedy wahoo that ate a trolled Rapala near Cerralvo Island.

pargo hank fiola cal lambert tags 4-13

Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Fleet helps with the photo op with this trophy pargo mulato (barred pargo) with the great colors with Chuck (sorry Hank!)  Fiola and Cal Lambert from the Yakima, Washington area.

cabrilla  Aaron Karina Dowd 4-13

Aaron and Karina Dowd are from Australia on a 6-month “walkabout” around the world and stopped for a few days in La Paz and took in a day of fishing scoring a number of nice cabrilla like these!

Gavin Boli yellowtail 4-13

San Francisco in the house with Gavin Chun and Captain Boli from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet holding a pair or yellowtail taken off Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz. Everyone’s wondering if the ‘tails will stick around now that the waters are warming. However, Gavin and his 2 brothers went home with well over 140 pounds of fillets!

Brown wahoo 4-13  tags

Two of our all-time favorite guys who visit us several times a year, Rod Brown (L) from Alaska and brother Jeff Brown (R) from Minnesota flank Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet holding Jeff’s 40 pound class wahoo that sort of kicked off the latest wahoo run this week that just exploded!

wahoo dave fudurich 4-13 tags

Two fisted ‘hoo! Double wahoo day …really incredible…for Dave Fudurich who was trying to land one on a flyrod. But he’ll take these without argument! He’s on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

yellowtail garbuz tags 4-13

Bob Gurbuz has visited us a number of times, but this time brought his dad, Orhan (Left) and nephew, Dan Boyd (right) and went north of La Paz and got into a nice jag of yellowtail.

rooster James Chun tags 4-13

Big smiles fishing around Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz where schools of roosterfish started coming on big time this past week and James Chun from San Francisco got this one before releasing it.

wahoo brian davis tags 4-13

His 2nd trip with us pays off for Brian Davis from Louisiana who checked back to the beach and got into the wahoo bite with a sweet wahoo…these fish are capable of speeds of 70 mph! Like tying your rod to a car on the freeway!

tuna tags 4-13

The clients didn’t want to pose with Captain Beto (thanks for the photo, Hawk!) and two yellowfin tuna estimated at 80 pounds! The tuna are there if you can snake a bait through the schools of bonito!

wahoo Bob Fudurich tags 4-13  7

Three days of fishing and a cooler full of wahoo for Bob Fudurich who took several wahoo with his son plus big yellowtail fishing with both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets.

BEST WAHOO BITE IN SEVERAL YEARS PLUS FIRST TUNA DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH BITES OF THE YEAR!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 1-7 2013

Crazy crazy week!  It started with some of the best yellowtail action we’ve ever seen in a long long time and as the yellowtail petered out, it turned into the best wahoo bite we’ve seen in two seasons!

I’m not sure where to start. At the beginning of the week the yellowtail were crashing the boats at north Cerralvo Island as well as north of Espirito Santo at the El Bajo seamount.  Anglers were getting anywhere from 3-10 big yellowtail and telling tales of many more fish that they just couldn’t stop or just didn’t have the experience to put the wood to them. These fish were all slugger 20-40 pounders with reports of a few fish moving towards the 50 pound notch!

Then, it was almost like someone threw a switch and we had about 2 days of so-so fishing and it was almost like the stage was getting cleared for a new act!

Because when the curtain came up later in the week.  It literally exploded.  Not only were we taking pargo, cabrilla and sierra as well as all the bonito we could as for but suddenly we BLEW UP the wahoo!

We’ve had terrible wahoo fishing the last two season.  Literally, the worst fishing for the skinnies that I’ve seen in almost two decades here.  But late in the week we had free-swimmers around our pangas and our guys reporting hooking (and in most cases losing) 2, 3, 4 wahoo each as the speedsters busted lures and sheared lines.  Still, some pangas got 1 or 2 to the panga and in that period we caught more wahoo the last 3 days of the week than we had in the previous two years.  Guys came back talking about fish free-swimming around the panga while they fought others plus others they would get right to the panga then having the fish bust off!

These were nice fish…most in the 20-30 pound class ,but several in the 50-60 pound trophy range that had big shoulders and thick guts!

But, on top of that…it’s April…we had big brick tuna pop into the fray crashing around the pangas and blowing out of the water.  These were nice grade fish ranging from 50-100 pounders and if you could get through the schools of ravaging bonito, there were thick fat tuna waiting to inhale!

It looks like things are warming up and with the warming waters, maybe we’re seeing the last of the yellowtail, but with wahoo, tuna and dorado taking their place far earlier than we’re used to seeing them in the year, not too many complaints!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

yellowtail chun 1 - 4-13 tags

Down from the S.F. bay area, brothers Glenn and Richard Chun fished a pretty much a whole week with us in that hot spot north of La Paz and found out how tough these yellowtail are losing quite a few fish, but having a blast taking 5-7 yellowtail each day.

yellowtail kids 3-13 tags

Nothing better than a kid with a big smile holding big fish! Even the kids got into it this week for the thrill!

Yellowtail fabio amigos 3:13 tags

Even the La Ventana guys were in on the great bite especially since Cerralvo Island is right across the channel! Famous Capt. Fabio poses with some amigos and a nice rack of fish!  (Thanks for the shot, Hawk!)

Rena hunley 3-13 yellowtail 1tags

This surely is not a salmon! Rena Hunley lives along the Columbia River in Oregon and fished with us for the first time getting in on some of the big yellowtail like this one that she hefts on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Scott Johnson yellowtail tags 3-13

Big big slug of a yellowtail! Just off Cerralvo Island, Scott Johnson from the Dalles in Oregon stuck this beautiful yellowtail on a live mackerel.

yellowtail Greg Hunley tags 3-13

With Tailhunter International for the first time, Greg Hunley, fished two days with us taking solid numbers of yellowtail in the middle of the big bite taking place off Cerralvo Island.

FULL MOON PRODUCES MAYBE BEST YELLOWTAIL OF SEASON!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 24-31, 2013

What full moon?  Yea…I was worried…but…

This has perhaps been the best yellowtail fishing of the year and maybe the best week that many of us can remember in a long time!

Both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet got into fish with some nice quality slugger fish running 20-40 pounds as waters cleared up in all spots, especially north of Espiritu Santo Island where the waters had been green and cold for awhile…plus windy…and now things have opened up nicely!

The pangas are getting 4-10 big fish each but…LOSING…just as many!  Here’s the kind of comments I’m getting:

“Man, these fish are way stronger than salmon!”

“I can’t believe how hard these fish can pull.  If you don’t turn their heads forget it.  You can’t just hold the bent rod and wait for them to get tired!  You’ll lose ’em every time!”

“I lost 4 on the iron until I figured out what I was doing wrong and finally started to listen to my captain who showed me that I can’t stop turning the handle.  They hit like a freight train!”

For our Las Arenas pangas, the hot spot is still that NE side of Cerralvo Island by the backside.  It’s solid with bait and fish and one of my captains counted more than 30 fishing boats out there one day including sporty’s, private boats,  cruisers from the East Cape and commercial guys.  The good thing was that it looked like everyone was bit!  Mackerel and iron worked best!

For our La Paz anglers, the run to El Bajo…probably the most northern spot we’ll get to for daily fishing is the seamount north of Espirito Santo Island and the place almost exploded with fish.  We had some guys cancel their 2nd days of fishing because they got too many fish the first day and were just whupped!  But these fish are horses coming up off the edge in deeper cold water…grabbing baits and irons…then turbo jet back straight down!  Most of these fish were short fat thick guys with big shoulders and bad attitudes!

The key right now is if this will continue. As I’m writing this, the advisories show that the winds will be kicking back up again this week.  We’ll have to keep an eye out.

Also, totally ignored because of the yellowtail, but outside there’s some big dorado to be caught and inshore, cabrilla, pargo and sierra as well as roosters are running around!

P.S. As I am writing this on Sunday night a little story…we had 6 pangas out today.  4 pangas got into fish except two.  BOTH PANGAS HAD BANANAS ABOARD!!!   They lost yellowtail and big pargo!

Aero Mexico

NEW AIRLINES FOR LA PAZ…FINALLY!

After months of speculation and many promises,  Aero Mexico has finally announced its new routes to La Paz flying directly from Los Angeles.  As of April 6th, Alaska Airlines terminates it’s flights to La Paz, but Aero Mexico has stepped into the gap.  However, flights don’t begin until June 20th from Los Angeles.  But this is still good news.  As of now, flights from LAX to La Paz will be on Sundays and Thursdays!

That’s our story! Happy Easter and God bless!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

Read Full Post »

yellowtail tags cavelini 3-13

Big yellowtail in the 30-pound class again provided super action all week for our anglers including John Cavellini who fished with Captain Victor near Cerralvo Island and shows off his first-ever forkie yellowtail!

yellowtail rack tags 3-13

Rack of fat yellowtail headed for the fillet knife and the freezer. Racks like this were not uncommon catches this week.

WARM WEATHER LOW WINDS MAKE FOR SOLID YELLOWTAIL BITE AGAIN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 17-24, 2013

It was another very good week for weather with temperatures surprisingly warm for spring in the mid to high 80’s and winds giving us a break which meant good conditions for more yellowtail which did not disappoint.

Again, fishing around Cerralvo Island, especially the north and east sides of the island, as one angler put it, “There’s so much mackerel in the water, the waters are thick with them!”  This is like candy in the water for yellowtail and sure enough we averaged 2-6 big yellowtail up to about 35 pounds this week…a real healthy grade of fish.  Quite a few others were lost.

Check out some video of  Greg Hunley battling a big yellowtail.  Check out how close to shore we are with Cerralvo Island in the distance and how calm the waters are!  https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=d8a4dfbefd40a051&id=D8A4DFBEFD40A051%21238&Bsrc=SkyMail&Bpub=SDX.SkyDrive&authkey=!ALT32fTppT8gO_c

The fish were eating live mackerel as well as casted iron in blue and white as well as scrambled-egg patterns on the fast retrieve.  Slow trolled yo-zuri magnums were also effective and similarly produced some pargo and cabrilla in the same areas.

We also had (sorry I don’t have a photo), but a wahoo exceeding 100 pound was also taken in the middle of the yellowtail bites when the big fish was seen free-swimming next to one of the pangas and the quickly tied on some wire with a hooked mackerel and pitched it at the lazy wahoo.  The big wahoo took the bait and fish on!  Hopefully, I’ll get a photo of it for next time!

Conditions seemed to be clearing all over which is a great sign.  My captains scouting north of La Paz tell me the green cooler waters are getting better and yellowtail started to rise around El Bajo Seamount!

In addition, we also got some pargo, cabrilla and sierra close to shore!

COMING HOME…THANKS TO ALL!

C61_R64_fred-hall-iz-slide-46

After 3 months on the road and about 15,000 miles of driving, we’re finally coming home!  We’ve had a grand grand time!  We kicked it off in early January and drove from San Diego to the ISE show in Sacramento…then cross the plains and Rockies to Denver…Seattle (Puyallup)…Portland…Yakima…Phoenix…Boise…Long Beach…Salt Lake City…San Diego!   Wow!  Ten shows in 11 weeks!

We’ve criss-crossed the western U.S. up and down and back and forth at the biggest and best fishing and hunting shows around and talked to so many great folks and seen so much of this great country.  The best part was all the laughs, smiles and hospitality of so many of our old amigos and new amigos to be and talking about all the great fishing in La Paz.  It’s also great to see and share the road and shows with all our friends in the industry…many of whom we only get to see once a year.  We’ve had a blast and we want to say a big MUCHAS GRACIAS to everyone and GRACIAS A DIOS for keeping us safe on the roads and to God bless you all for a great year and season.  TAILHUNTER folks are the best!

Now..back to La Paz and let’s go fishing!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »