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Posts Tagged ‘billfish’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 4, 2013

rooster hicks 10-13 small tags

In a surprising bite the last few weeks, trophy roosterfish have shown up around the Las Arenas lighthouse which has been a real bonus to many of our anglers like Dan Hicks, our amigo from Seattle WA, who never expected to get a roosterfish this week, let alone a huge 50-60 pounder that he caught and released! Normally, we don’t see roosterfish this time of year, but lots of our anglers are finding the exotic fish lately.

caleb damon tags small 10-13

You can never start them too young and Damon Davis, is the perfect dad to show his 5-year-old son, Caleb, how to do it, since Damon runs a sportfishing boat in Orange Co. CA and his dad is our amigo, James “Hawk” Davis an avid ace fisherman who lives in La Ventana near La Paz. Damon was out fishing near Las Arenas this past week and is shown on the beach with Caleb at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Leo tags marlin small 10-13

Marlin and sailfishing has been unusually good the past few weeks and it seems we hook several a day. About 90% are getting released or busting off…not surprising since we’re often fishing wit light tackle, but they’re still great fun. Leo Green from Washington got this striper while fishing with Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish couldn’t be released but the meat was donated.

dorado kids 2-proc small 10-13

Good week for kids! And a great time for the family with all the school-sized dorado around right now. Clint Throop from Rockford Michigan wit his boy…6-year-old Christian pose with this fresh dorado fishing near Las Arenas. Another great Kodak moment that I”m sure Christian will always remember . (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)

ed and tiffany sailfish tags small 10-13

Ed Hicks and Tiffany Isaacson were on their first trip fishing with us in La Paz. Tiffany wasn’t even sure she wanted to go fishing, let alone go to Mexico, but she’s convinced now. After a week of dorado fishing, she also got this nice sailfish off Cerralvo Island. Most of the meat was donated after it was not able to be released. Tiffany and Ed are from Washington.

Miles dorado tags 10-13

From Oregon, Miles Brown, visits us every other year-or-so and always does well fishing with his dad, Rod. He shows off one of the school-sized dorado they caught off Cerralvo Island.

SOME RAIN AND WIND AS SEASONS CHANGE AND SEASON TAPERS BUT FISH STILL BITE NICELY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2014

We had another solid week of fishing with dorado again at center stage, but the biggest event would be probably be Mother Nature posting that the seasons are definitely changing.  Northern winds, at times pretty strong, pretty much blew all week.  That’s significant for several reasons.

Not only is is a harbinger of the changing seasons, but it also heralds cooler waters and a changing of the guard as far as fishing is concerned.  They are a tad earlier than normal this year, but nevertheless, as they continue to blow and cool things down, the blue water pelagic species will start to move off and we’ll see more inshore species.

Therefore, fish like marlin, sailfish, and dorado, that have been our mainstays the past several months will be replaced by more inshore species like pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle and sierra.  Part of that, is also because it will be harder to get too far out away from shore anyway.

As the winds hit from the north, it can get downright wet and bumpy.  That’s why we pretty much shut down our Tailhunter La Paz fleet mostly from December to March.  Unless you want to get soaked and have your kidneys jarred, it’s just not worth it.  It’s easier to have us shuttle you over to Bahia de Los Muertos and fish with our Las Arenas fleet where at least you’re somewhat protected and the fishing is closer.

However, this year, it looks like we’re closing down the La Paz side a bit earlier.  This past week, even in La Paz Bay, the north winds had white-caps even in the bay!  Plus we had rainstorm Raymond come through.  Extremely late for a rainstorm, but we had one really good night of good rain.  It didn’t affect the fishing and we still got out and got fish, but this is pretty late in the season to get a rainstorm although it did make for a nice cozy night to stay in and watch the rain in the bay from a seaside restaurant (At Tailhunters, we had a full load of folks watching football plus the rain outside and they enjoyed it!).

As, I said, we still got fish!

The dorado were still voracious most days with most of our pangs getting limits or near limits of fish…if that’s what they wanted.  The dorado have been so prevailant that anglers would load up on more dorado than they wanted…even catching and releasing so many…that they would try for other species instead.  So, the counts didn’t really reflect the reason some anglers didn’t get limits of dorado.  It was because the anglers weren’t fishing for dorado.

Instead, the boxes and action were filled with other species…marlin and sailfish were still out.  I’d have to say the billfish angling was good to excellent most days with, again many of the guys getting their first billfish caught and most released.   As well, rooster fish up to 60 pounds were taken.  Again, very unusual to see rooster fish this late in the season, but they’re there near the rocky and sandy areas close to shore at Las Arenas.  A great opportunity for our some of our clients to check it off the bucket list and get one of these exotic fish.

As well, the counts also showed some nice cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper and pargo!  Some of this is because the seasons are changing, as mentioned above.  But, also because anglers were making a point to chase these species because they were tired of dorado.  Alot of the anglers simply changed to light tackle…like bass gear and had some fun catching-and-releasing dorado as fast as they could go!

Also, we had wahoo hooked almost every day.  I say “hooked” because almost every one of them hooked got off!  Just fishing!  But, obviously the speedsters are still out there.  Some of the hookups occurred while guys were fishing for dorado and the dorado where schooling around at the panga and a wahoo would zip in and pick up the bait.  On light tackle or straight mono, it’s not much of a battle when a wahoo going 50-70 mph with razor sharp teeth grabs the bait!  If the hooks isn’t set “just right” it’s a short battle!

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WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS TUNA JACKPOT 2013

If you’re in Cabo this week, that’s where we’re headed as well.  The first week of November is always the popular crazy Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot one of the largest fishing tournaments in Cabo each year.  Jill and I work the tournament which will take place from Wednesday to Saturday with the Wyndham Hotel as the anchor hotel.  It’s always a blast with big fish a big parties!  Both of us will be at registration on Wednesday and I will be working the scales while Jill is on the tournament central tent handling logistics.  Of course, we’ll also be at all the parties and banquets to meet-and-greet!  The motto of the tournamet is “FISH HARD and PARTY HARDER!”  If you’re in Cabo, come say hi and watch the festivities.

Or, better yet…sign up!  Here’s the link for all the info:  http://www.loscabostunajackpot.com/

As of this writing, there’s more than 120 international teams already entered and there’s always room for you!  C’mon down and play!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct .13-20, 2013

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Another good week of dorado fishing as the season seems to be tapering off. But, the dorado still bit strongly. Both our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet and La Paz Tailhunter Fleet kept finding fish some of the schools very close to shore with fish ranging from 8-40 pounds. Thanks to Gary Wagner for the great underwater shot.

George wahoo 10-14-2013 small tags

Some guys come for years trying to get one little sniff of a wahoo. George Kasee from Georgia was on his first trip and put this flyer in the box fishing off Cerralvo Island just before the storm hit. There’s still wahoo in the waters feeding off the high spots.

Kevin Marlin 10-14-2013 small tags

Yes…thats’ our famous Captain Pancho all wrapped up in the bandana, but he’s lending a hand to Kevin wearing his lucky fishing shirt that paid off with this marlin just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

marlin michele edwards tags 10-13

Captain Gerardo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet gives a hand to Michele Edwards from Loma Rica CA who was on her first trip with us in La Paz. She was here celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary and many thanks to them…they not only donated all their fish from the entire week of fishing but also brought down an incredible amount of toys, sporting goods, school materials and other things for the several charity groups of kids in La Paz.

squid james edwards tags 10-13

This is what we’ve been using for bait the last few weeks…giant squid! They have worked great, not to mention saving some up to have it cooked up at Tailhunter Restaurant . But this is how we have often started our days with having to catch the giant squid like James Edwards here with Captain Gerardo.

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Big smiles from Tera and Virgil Redwine from Washington State hold up some of their catch fishing north of La Paz.

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It doesn’t take much in La Paz for the streets to flood. After just a few minutes, we’re plowing through several feet of water like this past week when Tropical Storm Octavo dropped rain on us for a few hours. But then, as fast as it comes, it stops and the streets dry up.

ANOTHER LITTLE STORM PASSES THRU BUT DORADO AND OTHERS STILL COME TO PLAY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct 12-20, 2013

Well…another storm has come and gone.  “Octavo” rose up out’ve nowhere and blew in…and out.  It wasn’t as bad as anticipated. But, it still made for a day of rough seas…some crazy rain for about a day…and some winds.

Fortunately, since we have our two fleets, we were able to adjust folks and move them so that pretty much everyone who was supposed to fish got to fish instead of sit around the pool or hang out in their rooms.  Las Arenas was too muddy and too rough to launch so we had everyone fish with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and, at least we got out there and most folks were still getting fish.

And that’s the story…these storms are called “Toritos” (Little Bulls) that rise up out’ve nowhere when warm waters hit the right air and suddenly there’s a little blip on the weather screen that starts to swirl.  It’s the nature of thing down here in tropical zones.  They blow in and roar.  And just as quickly they blow out.  We had that one day and the next day the sun was out and the waters were calm and it was “fishing business as normal!”

Dorado were still the main attractant.  Most days, it was limits or near limits of the mahi for both fleets.  One day, however, it would seem like all the fish were the smaller school-sized 8-15 pounders.  The next day, the fish were all 10-20’s.  Some days the bite was late with literally nothing going on for hours then a frantic 11th hour free-for-all.  Other days, it was pick…pick…pick with a fish here and another there…and two…then one…resulting in a full box.  Other times, it would be an early melee then nothing the rest of the day resulting in searching for other species.  We generally instruct our clients to just hang in there and be patient and do what our captain suggests.  He wants to catch fish as badly as they do.  The days when folks didn’t do well were the days when folks decided to do something different an chase species that were harder to get…like cabrilla…pargo…or tuna.  But, in most cases folks know they take the chance and aren’t disappointed when they might strike out a bit.

One of those fish that is normally elusive this time of year is the rooster fish.  However, several days this week, rooster fish showed up and these were a nice-grade 20-50 pound fish.  We found these bruisers around the Arenas lighthouse area.   They weren’t there every day, but when they were there, they bit pretty readily and were a great surprise since normally, we don’t’ see roosters this time of year.  However, for alot of our clients who got them it was great for them to get one of these exotic fish!

The other big surprise were the number of marlin and sailfish we hooked this week.  I mean…wow!  Several days it seems like almost every one of our pangas hooked at least 1 or 2 billfish each.  Again, an unexpected thrill and sometimes when I would see the numbers or a panga and see that they didn’t get many dorado, I would check and it turned out they spent a good part of their day tied up on marlin fighting the fish for several hours!  Well done…most of the billfish were released also or broke off to fight another day!  I think many of these fish are in the area chomping on the small dorado in the area as well as  the squid.

A few wahoo hooked and lost as well this week so the fish are still here as well, but conditions are changing and the waters are clearly cooling down as we got a few more pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra which are all cool water fish.

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of October 6-13, 2013

marlin mike small tags 10-13

Mike Liberski from Washington is fishing with us this whole week. One thing on his bucket list was a marlin. It didn’t take long. His first day out with Captain Pancho, he scored this blue marlin estimated at 160-180 pounds. Good one Mike…he got it up for a quick photo and released the fish to swim away strongly! Bravo! Quite a few billfish in the area the last few weeks! Check out the flat waters. Only about a mile outside of Bahia de Los Muertos!

dorado underwater tags 10-13

I think I will frame this photo taken underwater of a nice bull dorado by amigo, Gary Wagner who owns the famous Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo San Lucas and has his place in Bahia de Los Muertos as well.

Kathy and Craig Sanford dorado tags 10-13

Celebrating their 29th anniversary, Craig and Kathy Sanford came up for the week to visit us and spent several days on the water tangling with some great dorado like these two bulls taken north of La Paz. Craig and Kathy are from the Phoenix AZ area and are standing on the beach at Balandra.

roosterfish tags john hughes 10-13

We have been trying for years to get John Hughes and his dad Carl down to visit us from their great operation at Aurora Fishing Charters in Seward, Alaska! They finally made it down and got into our great dorado bite but Carl also got his first marlin and John got his first roosterfish with Captain Armando and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Check out Aurora Charters at: http://www.auroracharters.com/ for some great halibut and salmon fishing in Seward, Alaska!

Virgin Redwine 10-13 dorado small flyrod tags

Big smiles from Virgil Redwine from Moses Lake, WA. Virgil was here celebrating his anniversary with his wife and took a number of fine dorado on the flyrod like this one just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos!

Wagner dorado tags 10-13

Beautiful posed shot of a nice bull dorado caught by our amigo, Gary Wagner, who takes time off from his famous Giggling Marlin bar in Cabo to come fishing up at his place in Bahia de Los Suenos (Bahia de Los Muertos)

baine dupee tags small 10-13

Big smiles from first-time visitor from Portland OR, Baine Dupee and another colorful dorado he caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet around Espirito Santo Island. Mom, Tanya Dupee looks on. Baine also got his first striped marlin on this trip!

ERic JOhnson marlin tags small 10-13-proc

It was a great week for billfish with lots of hookups and fish either lost and most released. Eric Johnson from Washington got his first billfish with Captain Adolfo driving the boat and he battled this one with Cerralvo Island in sight. Fishing 3 days, they released most of their fish but were not able to release this one and donated much of the meat.

dominguez tags pargo 10-13

“Uncle Bobby” Dominguez from Hacienda Heights CA really wanted his photo in this week’s fishing report. Well…you made it Bob! He shows off a really nice trophy barred pargo he pulled off the reef while fishing from Bahia de Los Muertos. Nice work, Bob!

Mike Anderson dorado tags 10-13 small

All the way from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Mike Anderson came down for a quick two-day run with us and got into some nice dorado like this one while fishing with our La Paz fleet.

dorado Jeremy Lord tags 10-13 small

Can’t beat the colors of a dorado! Jeremy Lord just put this one in the boat off Espirito Santo Island. Jeremy is from the Sacramento CA area and was on his first visit with us at Tailhunter in La Paz.

whaleshark tags 10-13

John Hughes took this photo of a “small” 25-foot whaleshark that came up and swam with their panga for awhile. It’s that time of the year when whalesharks visit our waters and John got this great shot, but kicked himself for not jumping in the water to swim with the big fish. The gentle animals are true sharks, but eat plankton and small krill and grow up to 50 feet and are a big attraction in La Paz for scuba divers and snorkelers.

devon dorado tags 100-13

Captain Rogelio helps out Devon Boatman from Lake Elsinore CA with another nice bull taken while fishing around Punta Mejia.

DORADO STILL BENDING RODS BUT POSSIBLE STORM COMING THIS WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct 6-13, 2013

As I write this, we’re watching our computers screens wondering if the storm cell to the south of us is going to head our way and turn into a tropical storm and bring with it, some winds and rain our way.  We’ve dodged quite a few bullets this year and our last few storms have veered away at the 11th hour.  We just have to wait and see.  I’m not worried so much about a little rain or some thunder showers.  Those come and go or you can alway drive away or around cloudbursts.  Fishing is rarely affected.

However, wind is all encompassing and can make for chop as well as turn-over-the-water.  Plus, it can cool waters and, if they are northern winds make it pretty much too uncomfortable to be fishing.  So, we’ll just have to wait and see.  We’ve got alot of fishermen here this week and we surely hate to disappoint!

Anyway…

It’s been a good week of fishing.  The full-turbo dorado bite we’ve had for two weeks died a bit, but everyone was still getting dorado.  For numbers, our Las Arenas fleet plugged easy limits of fish between 8 and 20 pounds.  For larger quality fish, our La Paz fleet got fewer fish but the fish were larger between 15 and 30 pounds.  Bottom line…if you wanted dorado, they were there every day for the taking.  Our light tackle and flyfishermen especially had a good time with this grade of fish.

However, there were some surprising other species as well.

There’s giant squid in the water that we’re catching for bait but those are also drawing marlin and sailfish into the area and we’re hooking a nice number of billfish…and releasing most…but they’re alot of fun.  Our biggest of the week might be 180-pound-blue that was released.  These fish are also feeding on the smaller dorado and bonito as well.

But, in addition to the billfish, we hit some jags of rooster fish as well.  These were fish in the 15-40 pound class and were in the Las Arenas area near the lighthouse and in Bahia de los Muertos.  Normally, it’s pretty late in the year to be encountering roosters, but a great catch for many of our anglers who weren’t expecting the exotic fish!  All roosters were released.

Additionally, pargo and cabrilla showed up on the counts leading me to believe that waters are starting to cool.   For sure, we’re getting more and more north winds indicative of coming winter conditions.  Normally, we don’t see this happening until November but looks like we’re in the transition period.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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 for Week of Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2013

dorado in sand tags Ken campbell 10-13

This is my new favorite photo! I think I am going to frame it. After the hundreds of fishing photos I have published this is one of the most creative. Ken Campbell wanted to show everyone the big dorado he LOST! Anyone can have a photo of the fish they caught but how many have a photo of the the fish they lost? Bravo, Ken! (He did catch plenty of other dorado, but this would have been the biggest and was a heartbreaker!)

marlin hosmer small nagy tags 10-13-proc

Our amigos, Rick Hosmer (tail) and John Nagy (head) always do well. It’s Rick’s 4th trip this year and John’s 3rd trip this year and they always fish with Captain Mundo. They stuck this hefty blue marlin with a live bait estimated at about 200 pounds. Attempts to release the fish were not successful. They are posing with the fish at Bahia de Los Muertos near Las Arenas. Lots of billfish this week!

roosterfish nathan sibayan 10-13 small tags

Yes! There are still roosters around! Steve Sibayan helps his son, Nathan, with this nice rooster caught near the Las Arenas lighthouse on live bait. The fish was released and the Sibayan family was on their first trip to fish with Tailhunter in La Paz (see photos below)

dorado jarrett 10-13 small tags

Our Tailhunter family! Son Jarrett Pfost and his girlfriend Diana Pleasants from San Diego spent the week with us and did well with the dorado bite at Las Arenas.

Dorado don busse tags 10-13

“Dancing Don” Busse is one of our favorite amigos who visits us each year. Don fished several day this week and poses with one of his larger fish from his first day fishing from Las Arenas. The nice dorado swallowed a chunk of chopped squid.

marlin tags 10-13 small

Devon Boatman was another new amigo who gave us a try this week for the first time. He spent an hour-and-a-half on this striped marlin…his first. He got it to the boat and figured it was about 100 pounds and could easily heft it into the panga for a photo. NOT! It was heavier than he thought! So…a quick photo and a nice strong release for the marlin! Well-done!!! Devon is from Lake Elsinore CA .

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I love family photos! The Sibayan family with some of their dorado catch after a great day on the water. Nathan, William and mom Victoria on the beach!

John kennedy dorado tags small 10-13

From the mountains near Sacramento, John Kennedy, fished with us pretty much the whole week and had great outtings on the big dorado bite that’s been going on about 2 weeks now.

Al Basye Ehab tags dorado pargo 10-13

Al Basye and his future son-in-law-to-be Ehab Abufaire from Orange Co. CA fished 3 days this past week and got a bit of variety in the catch with dorado plus the nice barred pargo.

sailfish gary bryson tags small 10-13

Gary Bryson from northern California gets a hand with his first-ever billfish taken near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz by Kevin Hale, son Eric Bryson and Jeremy Lord. The fish was hooked on a live bait and could not be released. It was a great day. In addition to the sail, they also got a box of dorado; caught and released a hammerhead shark. They also saw a huge whaleshark and jumped into the water to swim with it. Quite a day!

Dorothy and Terry Humphrey dorado tags small 10-13

From Aloha, Oregon (love that name!), Dorothy and Terry Humphreys were visiting us for the first time and came to spend Dorothy’s birthday in La Paz. Although they live in Oregon, she had not fished in 30 years even though she loved fishing. So, they came to visit! And they did great on dorado!

dorado angelo small tags 10-13

Angela Olivero is another of our first-timers this week. He’s from Murrietta CA and with Captain Pancho running the panga poses with his largest dorado of the day. That’s Bahia de los Muertos in the background.

held high dorado tags small 10-13

Great shot. Fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, three dorado grab air from Eric Bryson, Kevin Hale and Jeremy Todd while on the beach in Balandra Bay after a day of fishing.

Calimari Fleet tags 10-13

Amigo, John Kennedy, took this great photo of the fishermen mixed up with the commercial fishermen at dawn’s first light all fishing for giant squid near Las Arenas. This is how we start the day catching these big squid for bait. The dorado have been eating these like crazy!

squid calamar Jeremy Frieze 10-13 tags

Jeremy Frieze holds up one of the big squid that we catch in the morning and use for bait. It’s actually alot of fun and harder than most people think to pull one of these huge cephalopods up from the deep.

DORADO STILL THE MAIN PLAYERS AS SCHOOLIES SWARM THE PANGAS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, 2013

I’m not sure how to explain this, but fishing “slowed down” this week…compared to last week!  But it wasn’t bad!

Last week, our Tailhunter anglers were catching triple and quadruple limits of dorado as fast as they could bait hooks so the bar had been set pretty high!  This week started like that but, as the week went on it “tapered” to only single and double limits.  So, there was some disappointment.  But hey…still catching and releasing 10 or 15 dorado a day is NOT a bad day on the water!

Not sure what happened.  The waters didn’t change . The temperatures didn’t change.  I didn’t see any noticeable differences in the winds or other variables, but no doubt the fishing dialed-down just a notch or two.  Most noticeably, this was for fishing out’ve La Paz where the pangas had to work a little harder to find and catch fish.

For Las Arenas, for the most part, limits were still the rule rather than the exception with some fast action most times and for most pangas although there were some blips here and there.

Still, it’s alot of fun, especially on light tackle to get into a voracious school of 10-15 pound dorado.  Guys would tell me that they could see bigger bulls on the periphery of the marauding schools, but the younger bucks would zoom in so fast that the bigger fish had no chance at the hooks!  But, we still did manange to get a few 20-40 pound fish every day.

For Las Arenas, there is still no live bait to be had.  But, that has not slowed the bite. What we’re doing is jumping into the squid holes in the morning and hauling up some of those giant squid.  Using cut up squid for bait works just fine.  The dorado don’t slow down at all.

For La Paz, we’re still getting some mackerel and caballitos for bait since we go out earlier than some of the other fleets.  So, we hook a few dozen of them.  Then we go buy some sardines from the bait guys.  After that, go jig up some bonito to use for cut-bait.  That gives us 2–4 different varieties of bait to offer once we’re at the fishing grounds.

For other species, the biggest comment is more for what we are NOT catching.  Tuna just have not come to the party this year.  That’s what most guys are asking since this is traditionally tuna time.  We’re getting some wahoo and every day a few billfish are hooked and released most of the time.  Many of the billfish are hooked while anglers are in the middle of a dorado frenzy and the marlin and sailfish show up to join the party by eating the chummed squid as well as feeding on the dorado themselves!

Roosterfish are still along the beaches although no one much has been fishing for them since they’re not good eating and the dorado are so rampant.  We’re also seeing a few more pargo and sierra as the waters are now starting to cool down.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

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.”

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La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept 22-29, 2013

Kathys Sailfish in boat tags 9-13 small

Kathy Terbu has made several trips to fish with Tailhunter over the years but she timed it right to get into the big dorado bite and was fishing with light tackle when this huge sailfish estimated at 140-160 pounds slammed into her line. She fought the fish for about 90 minutes. Most sailfish in our area are half this size. Attempts to release the fish were not successful and the meat was donated to several families.

Tracy burns dorado 9-13 tags

Tracy Burns came down to fish a few days with her dad. She lives in Topanga Canyon CA and while fishing north of La Paz she put this big bull dorado in the boat along with a full limit of other mahi.

Vince small dorado 9-13 tags

Fresh one! Vince Langgle from the San Diego Area, gaffs another big bull to put in the box. Dorado fishing this past week was as fast and furious as I have ever seen it. Maybe ever.

DORADO DAVE 1 gaff tags 9-13 small

Dave “Mahi” Hill has been our amigo for many years and came all the way out from Texas to spend the with with us. He got 4 banner days of dorado fishing in with numerous fish caught and released.

dorado leslie pilkington 9-13 tags

The ladies had such a big week with us. Leslie Pilkington from Orangevale CA was on her first trip to fish with us in La Paz and had a successful outing with Captain Pancho and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fishing fleet.

Johns Dorado Horizontal small tags 8-13

It was a week full of school-sized dorado….all you could want. But there were still some big bulls mixed in like this beauty bull that might have been one of the largest of the week and caught by John Terbu from Utah. He’s on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

Chris tags dorado 8-13 small

Another San Diego amigo, Chris Wellons, made the best of only two days of fishing with easy limits both day with this young bull dorado among many while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

roosterfish kuhn small 9-13 tags

Yes! There’s still roosterfish around. I haven’t posted up many photos the last few weeks because no one has been fishing for them. Everyone has been chasing all the pelagic species and ignoring the roosters. But there’s still some fish up on the beaches like Ted Kuhn’s 30 pounder. Ted’s from Arizona and he tried to release the fish but was unsuccessful. He also hooked a 40 pound class rooster as well.

Gary Pilkington tags squid 9-13

If you fish with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, this is how your morning starts…with fishing for giant squid like our amigo, Gary Pelkington . The squid make great bait but also setting some aside is a good idea for dinner!

MAYBE THE BEST DORADO BITE…EVER!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 22-29, 2013

The last two weeks may well have been the best dorado fishing we have seen in years around here in La Paz.  Basically, ever since the last storm it was as if someone turned on a switch and the school-sized dorado either woke up or someone stirred up the nest and released a ha-zillion 10-20 pound dorado!

“We caught our first limit in less than an hour and then after that, we lost count of how many we released!”

“We only stopped the panga once and never moved for the next 3 hours.  It was like being in a private trout pond except these were schools of dorado everywhere under the panga!  It was crazy!”

“I’ve heard people joke about fish ‘jumping into the boat’ but the dorado were so thick they would actually bump in to the panga when they were charging the chum and I hooked one and it actually DID land in the panga.  We had 3-5 dorado hooked up at any one time!”

“In the middle of the frenzy I felt this big slam in my back and thought it was my buddy slapping me, it was a small dorado that hit me in the back and fell back in the water!”

“It was like someone rang a dinner bell and these fish had never been fed but they heard there was a free meal! There were so many swarming in, around and under the panga!” 

These are no exaggeration. For about the last 8 or 9 days, imagine 20…30…40 or more dorado per day!  Anglers losing count of how many fish they caught and released.  Fish, not even hooked, jumping all around the boats.  Just jumping!  Fish fighting each other to grab baits.  Fish bumping the pangas and slamming into the gunwales.  Fish hooked on hand lines.  Fish eating bits of tortilla and grabbing bear hooks tossed into the water.  Hooked fish getting knocked off the hooks by other fish chasing the hooked fish and the left-over bait getting picked up by another fish!

Just incredible dorado fishing unlike anything many of us have ever experienced.

My biggest worry is that we’ve had so many first-timers here and the think it is ALWAYS like this!  The bar has been set awfully high!

On the light tackle and flyrod, these dorado have been spectacular!

Between our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets, the bite has been epic.  If there was a distinction this week, it was that there were MORE fish at Las Arenas and a bit fewer fish out’ve La Paz, but bigger fish.  Most of the Las Arenas fish were 8-17 pounds.  The La Paz fish tended to be 10-35 pounders, just not quite as many!

As for other action, there’s been a far number of billfish hookups as sailfish and marlin cruise through the schools of dorado also eating the chum or baits or simply eating the many dorado.  In the same areas, we also found wahoo again, although those hookups don’t usually last long. Finally ,contrary to the belief of many, there’s still roosterfish in the areas as we hooked several 30-40 pound fish along the beaches.  No tuna to speak of except way way outside of Cerralvo Island.  Waters might be getting cooler as we’re seeing a few sierra in the fishing mix.  But, really hard to tell about other species since everyone has been chasing this mad dorado bite.

Hope this keeps up!

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.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2013

Panga sunrise braswell group 9-13 tags-proc

We could not have asked for better weather and fishing conditions this week with the end result being solid fishing action for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. Nothing quite like a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez and getting ready to head out for fishing at Las Arenas.

 

dorado ed small  tags 8-13

Photos just don’t do justice to the magnificence of our dorado. With incredible colors and acrobatic battles, they’re hard to beat as a sportfish! Ed Vander Veer, from Washington, has already made two trips to visit us this year and loves fishing ultra light tackle taking great fish like this one off Cerralvo Island.

 

dorado big kurt small tags 8-13

It’s always great to have first-timers and getting them into the fish. Kurt Dittig, from Sacramento, was on his first trip to visit us in La Paz and spent 3 days ripping on the dorado including this 30-pound class bull taken north of La Paz.

 

Dan Brown dorado 1 tags small

It’s a long way from Wisconsin, but Dan Brown, was another of our first-timers this past week and shows off a fresh bull dorado while standing in our panga. He’s just outside the mouth of Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

dorado mary small tags 9-13

She always does so well. Our amiga, Mary Heilman Vander Veer, never fails to put fish in the boat and she usually does it with light tackle. This big bull was no exception. Mary was with us for a whole week and poses with the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

McArthur dorado 9-13 tags

Big smiles from Mike McArthur who came in from Los Angeles to squeeze in two quick days of fishing getting into the dorado fishing and added this bull to the rack from Las Arenas.

 

SQUID 2 tags small

I”m getting lots of questions about the giant squid. Yes, we’re still getting them. They’ve been around for about 4 weeks and we catch them early in the morning as we head out. They’re fighters! But, they do make great bait, but also, folks forget that giant squid is the same as calamari! So, often they bring it back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have us fix it up. This one is headed for some marinated calamari salad and some fried calamari plates. I’ve photographed it next to a soda can and my kitchen knife. It’s important to treat the squid meat correctly or it will come out tasting bitter.

DORADO CHARGE THE PANGAS ALL WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2013

Overall, we probably could not have asked for better conditions this past week.  We had a few showers like the previous weeks, but nothing to keep folks off the waters and generally, the winds were kind to us as well with just some early morning and late afternoon breezes.

The good conditions made for some really excellent dorado fishing for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas as well as our Tailhunter La Paz fleets.  Here and there an occasional boat might have had an off-day, but mostly speaking, most of our amigos fish several days and one slow day was usually compensated by 1 or 2 outstanding days where the fish attacked the pangas and guys more than made up for the off-day and in some cases were catching and releasing as fast as they could go.

No really big big fish this week, but our larger fish were in the 30-pound class with some occasional 40’s and, of course, large fish have a tendency to bust off too!  That’s part of fishing and that’s why they’re bigger fish!  But, lots of medium 10-25 pounders all week.   Let me put it this way.  Everyone who wanted a cooler of fish to take home or a day of bending rods got it!

The really cool thing the past few weeks is that we have had so many first timers…couples…wives…girlfriends…kids…and watching them get into these fish and then listening to the animated stories are just the best!  But, in addition, they’re also experiencing stuff like whales and dolphin and sea turtles and manta rays as well plus just the overall experience of being in Baja and La Paz for the first time!  Many of them bring their catches to our restaurant as well so they’re getting to enjoy their fish twice in the same day!

As for other species, there’s still marlin and sailfish around and we’re getting a hook-up or two a day.  Most fish are getting busted off or released.   I’d say we’re probably releasing about 90% of the billfish that make it to the boat.  There’s also still a few rooster fish around, plus big jack crevalle and huge arm-tiring bonito that are beating up on the anglers.  As well, we are still hooking a few wahoo but not many are making it to the boats before they get busted off!

Plus, there’s still giant squid to start the day also.  Many anglers are using part of them for bait and eating the rest!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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 for Week of Aug. 18-25, 2013

JOHN AND CHEETO small tags 8-13

Happy guy…Johnny Gilbertson from the Sacramento CA area gets a hoist from Captain Chito from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Once again, dorado were the centerpiece of our bite that produced a great week until the late week storm arrived.

dorado kevin big tags 8-13

Kevin Shiotani has a habit of tangling with beasts! Several months ago, he caught a 135-pound estimated amberjack that might have rivaled a world record. He ripped again this week with this huge 57-pound dorado. He trolled completely around Cerralvo Island on a long day and was just about to go back to the beach when he stuck this beast dorado with his last bait of the day!

Chun Legaspi small dorado 8-13 tags

Eric Legaspi and Steve Chun got in on the big dorado bite this week showing off some of their catch of mahi. Both are from the Sacramento area. These fish were caught off Las Arenas.

marlin hosmer small 8-13 tags

It was another pretty good week for billfish with striped marlin and sailfish getting hooked every day and most getting released or breaking off. This pretty fish was taken by Rick Hosmer, our amigo from Manhattan Beach CA, who took the photos and then released the fish while fishing near Las Arenas.

P8140050

Yes! At least before the storm hit, we were still catching the giant squid near Punta Arenas and areas south. Grayson Richmond has a big smile for the camera after he wrenched up this big cephlapod from the deep. Captain Adolfo helps out. The squid are great for bait, but also some brought back to be cooked up!

Debbie dorado 8-13 small tags

Debbie White from Oregon, often visits us 2 times a year here in La Paz and always does great with a habit for big fish like this beautiful dorado she caught near Cerralvo Island.

FRank and Diane small 8-13 tags

Two of our funnest recent visitors, Diane and Frank Kunze from Colorado, pose with some of their catch from Las Arenas. Fishing 3 days, they took home limits of dorado!

Wade dorado Big Blue 8-13 small tags

Check out the colors on this dorado…clearly, one of the most colorful fish in our waters with golds, yellows, greens and a myriad of other colors including this shimmering blue. Wade Gomes fishes with us every year with a great bunch of amigos and had a great several days of us.  Our amigo is standing on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

don dorado 8-13 small tags

Easy to see why these fish are so photogenic. Our Oregon, amigo, Don White was on his 2nd trip to us this year in La Paz and targets big fish. He’s usually pretty successful. He got this nice mahi off Cerralvo Island.

SAILfish tags small 8-13

Sailfish were willing to bite again this week with all of them getting released. This great shot of Don Lemieux’s sail was taken just before he released it.

Dorado rudy tags 8-13

This 30-pound class fish by Rudy Soto from Carlsbad CA was stuck while he was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and he said, “It gave me a sore arm!”

J&D DORADO  samll mini tags 8-13

The had several days of limits of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet where fish got closer to the bay this past week. Dean Sims (right) and Johnny Gilbert (left) hold up some of their catch.

FULL MOON AND WINDS DON’T HURT BITE…until the storm hit!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug .18-25, 2013

You would think that with some windy days…a full moon…AND a week-ending Tropical Storm named “Ivo” we’d have an off-week of fishing!

On the contrary, if you were looking for dorado and loading up on the fillets, it was a great week to be here in La Paz with Tailhunters and a rod and reel in your hands.  In all honesty, there weren’t alot of BIG fish, but it made up for it in quantity and furiousness!   Especially for our anglers who fished with our La Paz fleet, there were great stories of double…triple…even quadruple hook-ups with fish as fast as a line could be thrown in the water or catching-and-releasing as fast as they could go!

For the latter part of the week, the amazing thing was that several schools of 10-15 pound fish were found right IN LA PAZ bay!  Literally just near the mouth of the bay by Balandra Beach.  That’s only about 3 minutes from where we launch our pangas.

The guys would spend about an hour getting bait but then get on the fish schools and on several occasions be BACK on the BEACH and eating breakfast at the hotel by 10 or 11 p.m.!   They’d get all the wanted.  Throw back others.  And tell the captain, “No mas!” and head back in.

Others would wind it up and go out towards the island to troll a little or look for other species where we encountered wahoo, billfish, sharks and even some pargo.   (all billfish released…all wahoo lost…all sharks broken off!)

Even for our Las Arenas fleet, we had a better than normal week with dorado, sailfish, marlin and those big giant squid come up.  What it lacked in quality like La Paz, Las Arenas has the larger fish this week with a few toads that were 30-60 pounds.  One fish could fill an ice chest!

At the end of the week, Tropical Storm Ivo came up the coast and went outside into the Pacific dropping rain on Southern Baja.  By Sunday it was gone.  There was some flooding.   We did have to cancel a day of fishing because the port captain closed the port and there were 30 knot winds outside the bay.  At Las Arenas the southern swell was too big and we would not have been able to push off the beach.  But the storm passed through quickly and I’m just sorry for some of the disappointed anglers, but fortunately, most of them had been fishing earlier in the week and were able to get into the fish earlier.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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 for Week of Aug. 11-18, 2014

Deb big tuna 8-13  small tags

Yes…some big tuna showed up but few taken! The fish were 50-100 pounders, but after long battles, there wasn’t much to show for it as the grumpy fish bent rods and backs. However, our good amiga, Debbie White from Oregon, who fishes with us every year and often puts the guys to shame stuck this plug yellowfin tuna estimated at 60 pounds. She did it in 30 minutes on 30 pound test with some good skippering by Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are pretty far outside of Cerralvo Island.

G man dorado 1 tags 8-13 two

Another one who put the big boys to shame this week was 8-year-old Grayson (“G-man”) Richmond from Colorado. Over 4 days fishing he put a couple of dozen dorado and other species in the boat WITHOUT HELP and he did it on conventional tackle…light 15 pound spinning gear…and on the flyrod! With his big smile, he impressed everyone from our captains to our drivers and us as well. About the only help he needed all week was to hold up the fish for photos like this one with dad Bill Richmond.

big dorado russ and rogelio  small tags 8-13-proc

No, Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet is not trying to eat this hefty bull dorado! He and angler Russ Blount were wrestling with the big fish trying to keep it still for the photo as it had already smacked them several times! Russ had a great week with us and is from Oregon.

dorado shawn 8-13 small tags

She likes pickle juice with her tequila shots and fishing in warm waters! Shawn Kirk from Denver, Colorado was on her first visit to us in La Paz and shows off one of several nice dorado she caught north of La Paz.

dorado bill flyrod beach  tags small 8-13-proc

“Bonefish” Bill Richmond spent 4 days whacking dorado with us, but on this particular day after climbing off the panga, he was casting his flyrod from shore and caught and released this nice dorado JUST A FEW YARDS OFF THE BEACH! People can never believe when we tell them we don’t have to go far for our fish! This is a great catch….even moreso on the flyrod!

diane kunze dorado big 8-13 tags

The ladies really put on a show this week! Another of our first-timers…Diane Kunze came with husband Frank who fished with us last year who just retired. The two of the were with us for the week and Diane had fun with dorado like this one and Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

marlin don 8-13 small tags

There’s good number of marlin and sailfish right now and the fact that we’re using big baits most days entices more bites than normal. Fortunately, most fish are getting released. Don White from Oregon visits us several times a year here at Tailhunters and always does well. He tangled with several blue marlin that broke lines and caught and released this hefty striper off Cerralvo Island on light tackle. Captain Pancho with all the smiles.

dorado joey 1 small tags 8-13

Coach Joey Fuschetti has been fishing with Tailhunter since the beginning…almost 18 years. Joey has a knack for lots of fish and big fish. He also has few “secrets” that he swears by like chumming with fresh papaya! (Yes…he does!) It seems to work. He had chunks of papaya out there when this big colorful bull hit!

g man dorado 1 small tags 8-13

Just had to post up another photo of our new favorite poster kid…Grayson “G-Man” Richmond smiling big time with Captain Rogelio after putting another big dorado in the boat on light tackle!

dorado ben kirk small 8-17 tags

First-time visitor to La Paz, Ben Kirk had some banner fishing with us all the way from Denver. Here, he stands on the beach at Balandra posing with 2 of several nice bull dorado he caught or La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

DORADO HOLD CENTER STAGE FOR ANGLERS

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 11-18, 2013

No doubt this is dorado season in full-color and full-turbo right now and we’re grateful because the mahi provide  all the things you want out’ve a sportfish…eager to bite…swarming schools…great colorful action…can be big and mean…and taste great on the table!

Although our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had the better and most solid catches all week of dorado, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet also provided steady action.  Both sides had fish that were generally schoolie-sized in the 10-15 pound class, with some larger bulls in the 25-30 pound class and the largest fish of the week around 40-ish pounds.

The bigger issue has been the bait situation that seems to change from week-to-week.  Las Arenas is having another year with a scarcity of sardines so we’re doing well with caballitos, mackerel, zebra fish, ballyhoo and, chunks of giant squid that we started catching about 2 weeks ago (that also make great eating as well!).

One of the good things about the bite at Las Arenas is that the fish are closer now.  In previous weeks the schools have ranged pretty far (relatively speaking for us!)  for what we are used to.  The last week or so the fish are inshore or as close as the nearby commercial buoy lines.

Even for our La Paz fleet, there were schools of dorado as far out as the channel to San Francisquito as well as the Charo Bank, but as close as even finding some schools of dorado right in the bay…right outside Balandra which is a stone’s throw north of town better know for a place to go swimming than for fishing!  However, breaking schools of dorado were located under bait balls right there just outside Balandra.

As for the La Paz bait, the situation has been a bit better than with Las Arenas.  Most days we have sardines to purchase from the bait guys.  Plus going out as early as we do with our fleet, we’re often able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos before the sun comes up. Then, after getting some sardines some quick trolling for bonito enables us to hit the fishing spots with 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of bait for the day!

In terms of other species, we got a steady number of sailfish and striped marlin hookups with both our fleets with all fish either being busted off or released (bravo!).  There’s still a few big roosterfish around but it’s late in the season for them, but the largest was in the 50-pound class.  No wahoo this week, but didn’t really have too many of our anglers devoting time to the wahoo and the few that did, came up with nothing.

However, we did hook some nice tuna.  Everyone wants a big tuna!  But you have to be careful for what you ask for.  Out’ve Las Arenas, there’s been a rise of the giant squid that I had mentioned before.  When the squid come up from the deep trenches, often the tuna come up as well.  Sure enough, we had some of the bigger tuna with some muscle show up.

Like I said, everyone wants a tuna, but a 40 or 60 pound tuna isn’t 2 or 3 times stronger than a 20 pound tuna!  Guys battled some big models between 40 and 100 pounds this week for an hour or more and came back saying, “Never ever ever again do I want a big tuna!”  There were stories of handing the rods back and forth between anglers and guys having their backs seize up on them as well as shaky-arm syndrome in the heat!  And then BLINK!….losing the fish!!!  It’s a long way and a long fight to lose a fish.  Great experience, but we warn ’em that it’s a home run hit and you better pull your socks up tight and high.  Tuna show no quarter.  The few fish we did get in were 50’s and 60 pounders…but very few compared to the number of hookups.

Weather wise…geeze…the air is heavy!!!  I can’t believe some guys are fishing in long pants!  Bring a big hat.  The sun beats down and this week it was also humid with some quick summer showers that were refreshingly welcome.  But sunscreen…t-shirt…shorts…flip-flops is the uniform of the day!

STILL NO FISHING LICENSES TO SELL so you have to purchase them online until the Mexican Government can print more up for the whole country.  Ask us if you need assistance!  But here is the link:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

Just remember to click the American flag to get English and also that the amounts are in PESOS!  So don’t have a panic attack when you see the amounts.  Just divide by 11 or 12 and you’ll see the prices in reasonable dollars.

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 »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 21-28, 2013

Kirk and ben rose wahoo 7-13 tags

It was a banner week for wahoo fishing this past week as we are in one of the best wahoo seasons in recent years. Kirk Rose and son Ben with Captain Armando just had one day of fishing to squeeze in with us and had never fished the area before and came up with the mega hat trick of three trophy wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet off Cerralvo Island

Marcos wahoo  tags 7-13

On vacation from college at St. John’s University in New York, Marcos Holguin had two days of double wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

Mike Figley tuna 54lb tags 7-13

Mike Figley spent the week with us fishing 4 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This was his 2nd trip with us and I had just been telling him how strong tuna can be. He goes out the next day and tangles with this nice yellowfin that kept him bent for almost 90 minutes! He’s a believer now. He also got some great dorado fishing in! Mike’s from Arizona.

Jorge dorado tags 7-13

Jorge Romero, our La Paz amigo, only had 2 hours to get in some fishing so he jumped on one of our pangas and between 9 and 11 a.m. he put 3 nice bull dorado in the box fishing north of La Paz. He was trolling some small hoochies behind the boat because he left so late there was no more live bait left.

wahoo tags Pietak 7-13

This trio had some fun! Tom Heaslet from Oregon along with Kathy and Darryl Pietak from the San Francisco Bay area, got 2 nice wahoo off Cerralvo Island. They also fished 2 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and plugged the panga with dorado each day.

DAne Fuller dorado big 7-13 tags

Dan Fuller from Childress, Texas, had a great week with us for his first visit with Tailhunters. He got his first dorado. He got his biggest dorado. He got his first billfish! He’s here with big smiles…a big bull dorado…and Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Heinke dorado 7-13 tags

This might be my favorite photo of the week. Big smiles from Bob and his son Bo Heinke from the Los Angeles area showing off big bull dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

wahoo steve holquin tags 7-13

Steve Holguin visits us each year but missed last year. He made up for it with two days of nice wahoo like this one from his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

smith sontag dorado 7-13 tags

These two amigos had 4 of the best days fishing…they got dorado, sailfish, marlin and several other species. Rex Smith from Arizona and Mike Sontag from N. Carolina had not shortage of big bull dorado like these two on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Group shot! Mike Figley, Bo Cullwell and Dane Fuller fished four days and on their fourth day had one of those wild banner dorado days that was a complete frenzy and will make for good story-telling filling 3 pangas with limits in short order and multiple hook-ups. They’re starting to unload one of the pangas here on the beach at Balandra Bay.

SLOW START PICKS UP STEAM AS FULL MOON RECEDES

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report For Week of July 21-28, 2013

The week started slow…picked up some steam…then sort of evened out as the week went on.  It took us a bit to recover from last week’s full moon with sporadic fishing, but some good catches of billfish for both our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets as well as some big dorado and even a few nice spots of 20-50 pound tuna that showed up north of La Paz.  As with previous weeks, although there might not have been a lot of fish, the quality of the fish gave many of our anglers personal bests in terms of their biggest fish ever caught or, for many, their first billfish caught and released.  It still wasn’t spectacular good fishing.

Then, the week suddenly turned on a switch and boom!  We had dorado going nuts for our La Paz boats where it was virtually one-stop shopping once the spots were located and dorado came crashing to the pangas with multiple hook-ups and our captains plugging the pangas within an hour of frenzied fishing and tired anglers coming back with frayed lines and big smiles plus ice chests full of fillets!

As well, we had a big-time flurry of wahoo and billfish late in the week for our Las Arenas fleets as well with some of our pangas getting 1-3 wahoo hookups per day and just as many sailfish or marlin.   Overall, the fishing for our La Paz fleet was better for sheer numbers while our Las Arenas fleet produced the trophy fish.

Some fishing suggestions if you’re headed down:

Bait has been hit or miss lately.  We’re doing a little more trolling than we’re used to.  Our folks are doing fine with what we have and use down here, in fact, most clients bring absolutely nothing with them.  However, if you’re coming down and want to fine-tune things a bit, I would suggest:

  • Some small trolling feathers.  Not many.  Surely two…a light one and a dark one with at least 60-80 pound leader
  • Little plastic “hoochie” skirts have been on fire.  We use them to sometimes catch bonito for bait, but the bigger dorado and tuna have really shown a liking for them the last two weeks
  • If the tuna are around, plain unpainted cedar plugs have resulted in some nice tuna catches as was as enticing some of the larger dorado and another plus is that the bonito don’t seem to like them
  • If wahoo are around or you want to chase them, Yo-Zuri Magnum lures or Rapala Magnum CD’s in black/purple or black/silver/white have been hot.  If you can or know how or can get your tackle store to do it, wire them up and take the treble hooks off and replace with single Siwash hook
  • Hook sizes for the varying types of bait we are using…#1, 1/0, 3/0 and 5/0 hooks.  Not circle hooks.  “J” style hooks
  • Flurocarbon leader in 30, 40 and 60 pound test.  No spectra

FISHING LICENSES

The Mexican government at CONAPESCA keeps telling us, “maybe in a few weeks” they will have printed fishing licenses again.  I guess that will happen when it happens.  However, for the foreseeable few weeks, the only way to get your fishing licenses to fish down here is to purchase them online before you come down.  The government did not print enough licenses for the year for the whole of Mexico so until the situation is remedied, you must purchase fishing licenses online.

Here is the link:

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 the whole of Mexico has to purchase their licenses online.  

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 14-21, 2013

Mike Sontag dorado huge tags  7-13

Nice way to start out a trip! All the way from North Carolina, Mike Sontag, visits us each year, but had an incredible week fishing with us starting right off the bat with several of these huge bull dorado that were all in the 40-50 pound class outside of Cerralvo Island.

wahoo rex smith tags 7-13

Rex Smith has been an amigo of Tailhunters for years and has caught pretty much everything in our waters, but wahoo always eluded him until this past week when he put the wood to this nice ‘hoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island in the background. Rex is from Arizona.

Alison dorado 7-13 tags

Hard to find someone more fun than Alison Nagatani. It was a little rough out of Las Arenas their first day fishing but she was still got this nice bull dorado…her largest ever. Shortly after this, she accidentally fell in the water and came up laughing. She got her first billfish this week as well.

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First-timer from Washington State, Colleen Russ, had a great week of fishing with big dorado and quite a few billfish like this one posed with Captain Victor from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. This one could not be revived and was donated. Colleen was just hoping to catch “one big fish” during the week!

John Wessner dorado tags 7-13

From Delano CA, John Wessner was game. Even fishing with a recovering broken wrist, he did great on big dorado and billfish this week. He’s shown here with one he got north of La Paz fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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For weeks we’ve seen signs of big tuna off Cerralvo Island although hooking them has been difficult. David Vicino from Cancun MX, didn’t wait for the to come up…he went down and speared this big 180 pound yellowfin! Thanks to Tim Hatler, our amigo at Palapas Ventana for the photo. Yes…the beasts are there!  For those of you not familiar with spearfishing in our waters,  all of it is done by freediving…no tanks allowed.  All breath-holding in whatever you can carry in your lungs!

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On a well-deserved break from the Air Force, Pat Russ will be heading to officer’s candidate school when he gets back to Washington but he came down for 10 days of fishing and diving and poses with another colorful bull dorado and big grins!

Jess dorado tags 7-13

Jess Escobedo from Los Angeles had never been salt-water fishing. He had never even taken a vacation in his whole life. So, it was great to have him visit Tailhunter this past week here in La Paz where he got his first dorado and billfish like this one caught near Espirito Santo Island. Check the video clip below of Jess fighting his first marlin!

dorado allen and josh 7-13 tags

Clarence Foster and his big hat pose with Allen Burgess and one of their big bulls on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Both of our amigos are from Kansas and spent a week fishing with us.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

From our amigo, Charles Belnavis, who owns Kelp Fishing Clothing and Shogun Tatoo in Pasadena CA (he’s the best of the best for inking all of us up in the fishing industry!)  http://shoguntattoo.com/

He shared this fun clip of himsel and Jess Escobedo (pictured above) getting lit up by a nice billfish!  At one point, there’s a double hook-up going!  Turn up the sound!  This is some fun video and not very long!

 

 

BIG DORADO BILLFISH

TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2013

The week had some highs and lows, but overall, many more high spots than low spots with a solid week of fishing.  We even had a little rain come in on us, but it was mostly just a little bump in the overall bite.

Again, it was a big of big fish mostly.  It’s been like that the last few weeks.  It’s almost like all the fish ate steroids or something.  The dorado, especially for our Las Arenas fleet tended to be 30 pound line busters or bigger.  It was not unusual to see fish on the beach that bottomed out our 50-pound scale!  That fills up an ice chest really fast with a fillet from even a single fish.  I had one panga go out and on it’s first day get 6 fish that were all around 50 pounds and they still had 3 more days to fish!

But, the size of some of these fish has been quite a story.  However,  the showing of billfish has also been remarkable.  I’ve not seen this many marlin in our waters in many years.  As one of our anglers this week said, “I had 4…5…6 billfish swimming around the boat all the time when I’m trying to catch dorado.  It was really funny because we would move the boat away and they would either swim after us or would show up again!  They were like pigeons waiting to be fed.  My first day, I caught and released three and that was enough!”

Most of the billfish, whether marlin or sailfish, fortunately are being released by the anglers so that’s been very gratifying.  Other times, the anglers go through great effort trying to revive tired fish and it’s only the rare billfish that’s being kept.  Mostly because there was no other option.

However, one fish that is NOT getting released is the wahoo.  Like the marlin, the wahoo bite has been far better than we have ever seen in years.  The wahoo are mostly lurking on the usual high spots around Cerralvo Island and trolling early with big lures has been the most effective.  The biggest hinderance can sometimes be that there’s far too much traffic out there with boats zig zagging all over the spots.  But…ni modo…that’s just the way it is when the bite is hot…especially for wahoo!  So, the earlier you get to the spots the better the chances!

Also, we got into several nice spots of yellowfin tuna again this week.  Like last week, they popped up for a few days and went crazy then moved off, but we had spots of tuna pop up for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets which was a real welcome surprise.  Nothing big, but fun 10-20 pound footballs are a hoot good time.  We saw some bigger 100+ pound guys moving through the areas real fast as well, but no one could get on them, but we know they are there!

Our biggest problem has been the lack of sardines for bait.  We’re going through one of those times again when sardines are hard to get.  But, at least for us, we’re able to jig up larger baits like mackerel, cocineros, caballitos, zebra fish, mullet and ladyfish!  That might also have something to do with why we’re getting mostly big fish!  It takes a big fish to eat a big bait!

If you’re coming down, a few tips…

1.  If you’re bringing stuff, this is one of the few times when I’d recommend bringing a few feathers.  All you need are two.  A dark one and a light-colored one  Also, if the tuna are around, the plain wooden cedar plugs have been deadly and the bonito tend to leave them alone.

2.  Bring a sabiki or lucky Joe rig with about a 4 oz torpedo sinker

3.  I wouldn’t be out there fishing with anything less than 40 pound test, although, if you’re a light tackle fan like many of our anglers, at least use 40 pound test leader or higher

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 »

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