Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘day trip’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Dec. 21-28, 2014

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Pancho with a nice rack of sierra and a cabrilla.

pargo tags 5-12

Pretty typical inshore winter catch of some great eating, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Incredible day trips right now to swim in La Paz Bay with the whalesharks in the shallow waters! On any given day there are up to several dozen 10-15 foot “juveniles” in the bay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Above or under the water, these gentle animals are a fantastic experience. This is about a 20 footer, feeding on the surface in only about 10 feet of water!

 

 

SUNS OUT BUT SO IS THE WIND!  

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 21-28, 2014

The weather was tough on us this week.  Quite a few windy days as is often the case during the winter months when the north winds come down and hit us and just make it difficult to get out or, even if we do, it’s just rugged out there or, the big waves make it tough to get bait.  And that’s the way it was for the majority of the week.

I feel badly because most of the folks that fish this time of year are snow-birds just enjoying sunshine who want a day of fishing while in La Paz.  This is unlike during the regular season when folks fish every single day of their vacation and are specifically in town to fish.  For the folks now with only one day to fish, that means we either have to cancel; or they have to just gut-it-out and have a rough day; or we have to juggle their fishing days to find a day where the winds are diminished.

More often than not, we either have to tell folks who only have one specific day to fish that it’s best they not go out, or they go out and really just have a bad time and get beat up and wet and not catch much fish…and that’s not fun either.

On the other side, at least it’s sunny!  Day time temps are in the low to mid-70’s and really pleasant.  Although it was windy, winds should calm down by the time you’re reading this.

We did get out a few times this week.  All of our fishing during the winter months are out’ve Las Arenas/ Bahia de Los Muertos areas.   Because of the winds, waters are pretty turned over and green and dirty in some of our hot spots.  However, we did get into some decent sierra along the beach drop-offs.   Some were hefty 4-5 pound chunkers and ALWAYS great eating.  There were a few small pargo, snapper and cabrilla caught.  We had some school-sized rooster fish caught and released and the bonito helped provide some action as well.

As a side note, many folks don’t know that La Paz has become quite a mecca for whalesharks which have been increasing in numbers the last few season in La Paz Bay where they’re protected.  At times there are 1/2 dozen to several dozen “juveniles” up to 15 feet long or more all in shallow water and great for snorkeling!   We’re running 2-3 hour trips to swim with the whalesharks every day that the winds are favorable.  The juveniles are just a few minutes away and it’s an incredible family once-in-a-lifetime experience.   You are NOT allowed to touch or ride the animals but still…getting just a few feet away from these gentle animals (they are true sharks with no teeth that eat plankton, krill and other small critters) is something not to be missed.

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW!  BRING ON 2015!

Well, 2014 is almost one for the books and I thought it would good to wrap up the year with a full review…

It was as crazy a year as I have ever had in my almost 20 years working here in La Paz.

With El Nino hovering, we entered the year with some trepidation.  El Nino seems to have a zillion variables that change the whole complexion of fishing and sure enough, it started right from the get-go.

El Nino conditions are characterized by warmer than normal waters.  Good in some ways, but bad in so many others.  So, crazily, our waters never really did cool down.  We started the year catching dorado which was a great surprise in some aspects, but the downside was not so good.

For one our cooler water species never really did show up.  While the dorado were biting, we never got into the good yellowtail or the amberjack, sierra or pargo that are so popular in our cooler months. We got a few, but it had to be called a big disappointment.  One aspect of the overly-warm water was the lack of bait.

yellowtail Tim Butterworth tags small 4-13

Tim Butterworth with a fat yellowtail caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

From Idaho taking a break from teaching school, Mandy Pollock let's Tailhunter Capt. Boli struggle with this big yellowtail from the north side of La Paz.  Still a few yellowtail around and this was Mandy's first trip to La Paz.

From Idaho taking a break from teaching school, Mandy Pollock let’s Tailhunter Capt. Boli struggle with this big yellowtail from the north side of La Paz. Still a few yellowtail around and this was Mandy’s first trip to La Paz.

Jorge dorado small tags  4-14

Jorge Ramiro, everyone’s amigo, with two nice spring-time dorado which showed up early this year with the warm waters!

 

Baitfish require cooler waters so that nutrients come from the deep.  The baitfish feed on the nutrients and without those necessities, bait either died off or moved away to find food.  Insofar as we’re a live bait fishery and bait is an important aspect of our sportfishing, it makes it hard to fish, let alone catch fish without bait!  This was to plague us throughout the year.

It didn’t help either that in the Bay of La Paz, bait catchers from the fish farms were scooping up what little bait was available, sometimes at night leaving virtually nothing for the sportfishing fleets and commercial local fishermen who rely on the bait to make their livings.  It wasn’t until almost mid-year that the bait catching stopped.  Surprisingly, our bait stocks suddenly increased!

But, bait was to be an issue all year long.  We made do with what we could get.  That often consisted of a mix of sardines, mackerel, caballitos, baby bonito, ballyhoo and dead bait like cut squid, cut bonito and the like.

It will produced some great catches throughout the year like the dorado, marlin, sailfish and some others.  The most remarkable catches of the year were the rooster fish and wahoo.  We had an above average year for rooster fish underscoring La Paz’s reputation as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World” with fish in the 30-80 pound class not uncommon.

rooster kacie tags armando small 5-14

Kacie and Captain Armando put this nice big rooster in the boat for a photo then quickly released it!

Rick rooster 5-14 tags

Captain Jorge and our buddy, Rick Kasper, always has the knack for big fish like this world-class huge roosterfish caught just off the shallow beach near the Las Arenas lighthouse then released.

rooster brian davis 5-14 small tags

From Louisiana, Brian Davis stuck his giant roosterfish with Captain Pancho that might have tipped the scales into the triple digits, but was gratefully released.

As for wahoo, the cycle came around this year.  After a few years of negligible wahoo to show, we had a fairly outstanding year for wahoo with fish in the 30-50 pound class and larger often taken and the best spots around Espirito Santo Island.  For folks who had never caught a wahoo or rooster, this was the kind of year where many anglers finally got their first of each species, sometimes on the same day.

Rich Pomeroy tags small wahoo 5-14

Lots of amigos got their first wahoos this year like Rich Pomeroy from Northern California who was on his first trip to La Paz.

Kris Honkola wahoo 1-14 tags 10-14

Big wahoo like this one caught by Kris Honkola were a great catch this year in 2014

The biggest issue of our year was the weather.  It played havoc all year.

As is characteristic of El Nino years, storms are more common and we gritted our teeth and watched hurricanes and rainstorms threaten us and sometimes drop some rain on us and stormy conditions.  We have over a dozen come our way, but dodged almost all of them until the big one finally turned on us in a surprise of historic proportions.

Hurricane Odile slammed into Baja with winds up to 150 miles per hour.  It turned out to be the biggest hurricane in Baja history causing widespread devastation.  La Paz was in it’s path and, although the fury of the storm was spent in about 6 hours, the destruction and aftermath were felt for weeks and La Paz and Baja are still in the rebuilding process.

WP_20140915_023

Hotel La Concha in La Paz just hours after hurricane Odile ripped through.

AIRPORT 1

The Cabo San Lucas Airport was brand new but left in shambles.

Power lines and debris are knocked over on a street after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz

Hurricane Odile devastated neighborhoods. Baja is still re-building but financially, recovery will be long-coming .

 

As far as fishing, we were back to fishing within a week of the storm.  However, since airports were shut down or destroyed, there was no way for clients to come into Baja and hence suffered many weeks of cancelations and lost bookings during the part of the season which is traditionally the busiest time of the year.  The ripple effect on much of the economy will take a long time to recover.

But interestingly, right after the hurricane, fishing took off!  Some of the best fishing took place in the weeks and months post-Odile with dorado, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, and other species biting better than they had at any time of the year and with continued warm waters through Christmas, continued to bite!

Marlin Snead 10-14 small tags

Bucket list marlin for Steve Snead from Idaho who battled this guy for a long fight despite his bad back and released the fish to fight another day!

Cathy and Craig tags wahoo dorado small 10-14

Craig and Cathy Corda had a gigantic nice day on the water with dorado and wahoo!

Caray dorado tags mike robbi 10-14

First timers, Mike and Robbi Caray with one of several big dorado caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Here’s hoping for a mo’ bettah 2014, but as long as all of us are safe, happy and have each other, all  is good.  Here’s to wishing you the best with a big MUCHAS GRACIAS for being part of this great adventure!  God bless you all!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Dec. 14-21, 2014

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A sample of the mix we’re getting right now which is interesting. Dorado, which are warm water fish, mixed with sierra (including some big ones!) which are cold water fish!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Shirley and Dan Owens have a sierra and a dorado headed for the dinner table at the Tailhunter Restaurant!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Victor with a sierra that’s headed to the ceviche bowl!

 

NOT MANY ANGLERS AROUND FOR MIXED BAG OF FISH

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of December 14-21, 2014

I think this is the slow-down before the holidays.  I think the whole city is just in “mellow Christmas mode” right now.  Everyone is excited about Christmas, but it’s just very “tranquil” (peaceful)  right now.  I think every place is like that right now no matter where you live…unless you’re hitting a shopping mall in the U.S.

Here in Mexico, Christmas season started well before the U.S. Thanksgiving.  There’s no Thanksgiving holiday in Mexico so right about Halloween / All Souls Day/ Dia de Los Muertos stores start selling decorations, toys, etc.  And people start buying and decorating and getting ready two months ahead of time.   Homes have been decorated for weeks.  Christmas trees have been up since the end of November (which means the live ones can be pretty dry by now!).  Packages have been under the trees for weeks also.

If you’re just headed out to buy toys or decorations now, you’re pretty much out-of-luck!  There’s not much to buy.  I had trouble finding a string of white lights last week for some that burned out already at the Tailhunter Restaurant!  I had to go to 5 stores to find any Christmas lights!

Anyway, not many visitors around either.  Next week folks will come in for vacation, but many of them are snow-birds or folks just coming in for the holidays. Not many anglers around!  It would be a good time to be on the water since there’s no pressure on the fish at all!

We only had a few anglers ourselves.  The only ones out there, for the most part, are the commercial guys.

It was a little windy here and there and kinda bouncy and rough a few days, but that’s typical this time of year.  As I’ve mentioned often, we are only fishing with our fleet at Las Arenas/ Bahia de Los Muertos because it’s calmer there and the fish are closer and there’s more variety.  With our La Paz fleet, it’s just too rough many days and a long bumpy ride to the fishing grounds for erratic fishing.

But, at Muertos and around Cerralvo, we’re still getting a few dorado up to about 15 pounds.  Nothing big, but decent action.  There’s still a few roosters around to about 20 pounds.  Mostly school-sized fish although someone did latch onto a fish estimated at double that size.  They never saw the fish, but it was hooked right there in the “rooster zone” near the Arenas light house and slammed into the bait like a big rooster.  The clients had never caught a rooster before and kinda fumbled around and lost the fish!  Oh well.  Everyone had a laugh.

There are still some great inshore stuff too.  Sierra are becoming more abundant as the waters get cold and in the rocks, we got some decent cabrilla and small pargo.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

J n J Fish report Card

Jill and I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a safe, happy and peaceful holidays and Christmas season with many blessings and good wishes for an even better 2015!

Christmas greetings group

From our Tailhunter Staff to you…thanks for a great 2015 and best wishes for a great Christmas and next year! It’s been fun!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I did get some of our Las Arenas captains who are well known to so many of our clients to get together on a slow day to wish everyone a Feliz Navidad. Left to right…Jorge “Moscoron”…Ramiro “Juan Valdez”…Manuel Archangel “Arkie”…Gerardo “Albondigan”…Pancho and Adolfo’s son (Adolfo’s wife had him doing something. ). Victor was out fishing. Armando was working up on the ranch. Regretfully, I couldn’t get all our La Paz captains together at one time!

 

That’s our story!  God bless you all!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Nov. 16-23, 2014

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Jesse had one day to squeeze in for fishing and made the most of it with a nice rack of dorado to put in the freezer. If he’s not smiling, it’s cuz he told me had had a wahoo estimated at 60 pounds all the way to the boat before it broke loose!

roosterfish brian mee tags small 10-14

Yes! There’s crazy roosterfish still around. They started showing up about a month ago and have been running up to about 50 pounds! Brian Mee from Eastern Washington was fishing light tackle and shows off a great sampel of the kind of roosters we’re getting. This big boy was released!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Carlos Cifuentes had never been fishing before he tried a day on the water with our Tailhunter Capt. Armando fishing from Bahia de los Muertos! They got 4 nice dorado and lost several others prompting Carlos to laughing tell us, “My shoulders are so sore! I never caught fish before like this!”

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Some of the wahoo we’re getting are just minutes from leaving the beach just around the corner from Bahia de Los Muertos. Captain Jorge put the guys into this fat ‘hoo!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Our gran amigo, Art Savedra, the famous “Captain Hook” was here working the Baja 1000 race but stayed a few extra days to get in some fishing and scuba. He’s here on the beach with Captain Armando and dinner!

 

 

DORADO STILL AROUND BUT OTHER SPECIES HELP OUT AS COOLER CONDITIONS COME IN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 16-23, 2014

A bit windier this week with a few days that were really bouncy, but still overall really pleasant conditions.  But, as we get closer to winter we’re going to see more winds and especially winds from the north.  But, for that very reason is why we’re doing most of our fishing from Las Arenas right now since we can launch from the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos where we’re a bit more protected from the winds and it’s also easier since the fishing is much closer…like RIGHT THERE!

I’m not kidding.  We’re getting a variety of fish within minutes of where we launch.  The bay itself is holding some decent rooster fish up to about 40 pounds.   By the northern point of rocks, there’s jack crevalle and cabrilla.  As soon as you pass the point, drop the lures and there’s always the possibility of wahoo literally within a hundred yards of the rocks!  Go south or just outside to the buoys and you can hit dorado.

Anywhere in between, there’s also the chance of more wahoo, billfish (sails mostly), pargo, and bonito.  Great variety and in between these gusty days, conditions are about as pleasant as you could want with air temps in the low 80’s and water temps just about the same.  Just be flexible on your fishing days, if you can, in case the day you want to go out looks like the wind is going to kick in.

Keep an eye out as well. There’s so much sea life out there.   Schools of dolphin…sea turtles…whalesharks…blue whales…manta rays.  Pretty incredible time to be in La Paz!

A LITTLE THANKSGIVING MESSAGE FROM US

DSC03260

We just wanted to take the time to wish you and your family a very peaceful and happy Thanksgiving.  We’ve had a crazy tumultuous year here in La Paz.  Mother Nature did what Mother Nature does and not much to be done about it except roll with it and try to keep smiling.  Crazy El Nino year affected the fishing.  Storms and hurricanes.  Winds and heat…we pretty much had it all.  But, through it all, so many of you kept us smiling and laughing and remembering how very blessed we are to even be here.  Thanks for your support.  Thanks for your patience.  Thanks for your friendship.  Tailhunter tribal family is the best!  God bless you all!

That’ our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 1-7, 2014

marlin mckenzie tags small 8-14

Scott McKenzie from Seattle WA and his sisters Jana and Lauren have fished with us many times for many years and caught all kinds of fish with us including marlin that they released. But this one was quite a story. While fishing with our Tailhunter fleet at Bahia de Los Muertos, they caught a few dorado the saw a marlin on the surface. They tossed a bait at it and the fish went off. Over three hours, the three of them battled the fish on a light rod and 40-pound test. However, during the first hour they almost had the fish to the boat and it was battling down and bulldogging without doing much jumping. Suddenly the big striper went ballistic as two killer whales started to chase it! During the balance of the battle, the fish stayed largely airborne trying to avoid the killer whales which circled the marlin and the panga adding quite a measure of excitement. They finally got the fish to the boat but were not able to revive it…but the marlin probable didn’t want to go back in the water anyway. The killer whales kept circling and finally swam off.

McKenzie marlin jumping collage 8-14

The McKenzie marlin gets air as it’s being chased by the killer whales!

mike whitlow tags small rooster 8-14

Happy Birthday to me! Our good amigo, Mike Whitlow from Kennewick, WA came down to celebrate #50 with us. He’s a spectacular light tackle fisherman and pro bass guy too! He got himself this nice rooster on light tackle and did a great release after the photo! Feliz cumpleanos, amigo!

Whitlow party 9-14

Some images from Mike Whitlow’s 50th birthday party at Tailhunter Restaurant! Good time had by all! Thanks for sharing, Mike and Wendy!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Darryl “Buffalo Soldier” Poindexter…one of the nicest and funnest guys on his first trip regretfully, only got to fish one day before the storm hit us ,but he made the most of it with a good day of dorado fishing like this nice bull he presses overhead!

NORBERT

It was FUGLY! Norbert eventually turned into a Cat 3 hurricane that by now has gone up the Baja coast and is dropping rain on the SW United States, but not before doing some pretty bad damage to Baja coastal areas. Gratefully, La Paz didn’t get hit too hard, but enough to put the clamp on fishing. Better to be safe and dry with a cold one.

HURRICANE PARTY!

When you can’t fish…fishermen very often…find other means of entertainment! Thanks to everyone this week, including Alex Trasvina and his boys who kept grinning even tho’ they had only one day to fish and had to cancel. They ended up at Tailhunter Restaurant watching football and raising their glasses! Salud, Fish Brothers! The “Tequila Bandito” says you rock!

Adam Florence 9-14 dorado small

This is another great story. Adam Florence all the way from Kansas was fishing with Captain Pancho. He went to Walmart here in La Paz and got a cheapo freshwater spinning rod with 8 lb. test. He got bit big time and this bull dorado was all he could handle almost spooling him. They had to chase it down with the boat!

Wade Ralston rooster 8-14 tags small

Great shot and super fish by Wade Ralston who visited us from Washington on his first trip down. Punta Perrico in the background right off the rocks. Wade is a light tackle guy and fishes bass tournaments professionally. He did a great catch-and-release on this pez gallo.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Nick Petrilli and his son, Nick, Jr. had a banner day out’ve Las Arenas with Captain Pancho and a slammer of mahi.

Dave Sundgren Steve Rosebaugh dorado tags 9-14 small

Just after the storm, the waters started to get back to normal. Dave Sundgren and Steve Rosebaugh hold up a nice pair on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

 

GOOD FISHING SLAMMED BY STORM NORBERT

ALTHOUGH LA PAZ ESCAPES DAMAGE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-7, 2014

It was a worrisome week on alot of levels.  The previous week had been one of the slowest weeks of fishing for the season for no apparent reason.  All the signs were there for good fishing, yet the fish just either didn’t show up or just weren’t ready to cooperate.  It wasn’t just slow, it was dead.

So, we jumped into this week not knowing what was going to happen. It was a tale of two completely different weeks…

EARLY IN THE WEEK

As it turned out, the fishing came back to life!  Maybe not full blast, but compared to the previous week, we were rocking with bent rods and good variety.  Both of our fleets…the Tailhunter fleet in Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets found dorado between 8 and 15 pounds on the average, but also some of the trophy bulls running 20-40 pounds.  Limits were not uncommon and it was good to see that some times there were so many fish that anglers were releasing them as fast as they could go or at least kicking back the small ones!  It’s been a few weeks since we had that kind of bite.  Moreso, we often had double…triple…and quadruple hookups!

Even better, for our Las Arenas fleet where it’s really been a struggle sometimes, we not only had dorado, but a surprising number of sailfish and marlin were hooked between 70 and 200 pounds.  Most were released, but really did a number for some of the guys using light tackle.

As well, rooster fish showed up again between 10 and 50 pounds and we even had a few wahoo hooked up although none made it back to the boats!  Add in some big bonito…jack crevalle…some pargo and snapper and it made for a pretty decent week of fishing.

During this whole time, we were all watching the weather…and watching…and watching.  Norbert started as a little blip…it got bigger and bigger…and went to tropical storm level.  But like so many other storms that have appeared on the horizon down south, the tracking for the storm showed it was going out to the Pacific and wouldn’t do more than drop a little rain on us.  We were sure that like all the other storms, it would continue to veer out and away from Baja.

It didn’t…

LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK

Tropical Storm Norbert became Hurricane Norbert and would eventually reach a category 3 ripper.  Although La Paz did not suffer extensive damage, in areas of Cabo and along the Pacific Coast, there was extensive flooding and damage.  Several thousand people had to be evacuated and over 1000 homes were damaged.  At the time of writing this, there was at least 1 fatality related to the storm.

For us in La Paz, the heavy wind and rain hit us just as we were launching in the early dark of Thursday morning.  Rain began to pelt and the winds began to howl.  And it got stronger.  We all went for cover and hunkered down. And hunkered down.

For three days pretty much everyone had to sit it out.    The roads to Las Arenas got flooded.  Mud everywhere.  While La Paz pretty much did not flood. there were intermittent bits of heavy wind…rain…drizzle…and more rain as the storm passed.  AND THE PORT WAS CLOSED!  So, we couldn’t even get out if we wanted to.  For safety measures, the port captain kept the port bottled up and prevented anyone from leaving until mid-morning Saturday.

It was really bad especially for some of our many anglers who never got to fish before having to go home.  Or only getting to fish 1 day or 2 days.  And, when they did get to fish, conditions weren’t the best.  If it wasn’t windy or wet, then the waters, even after the storm passed, were turned over green and muddy.  Hat’s off to so many guys who grinned and were patient and still kept smiling while we did our best to control things of which we had no control.  You guys and gals are the best!

It wasn’t until Sunday that we finally started to see some changes in the water and some better fishing action with dorado, billfish and pargo waking up.

This coming week, as you’re reading this looks like it might have some of the best weather we’ve seen in awhile.  Hopefully, it lets the fishing come ripping back!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 10-17, 2014

Steve Dorsey dorado 8-14 tags small

Another pretty solid week of dorado fishing with some really nice bulls taken including this sweet one that jumped a bait and bent Steve Dorsey’s rod fishing north of La Paz.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Adolfo poses with our Colorado amigo, Frank Kunze who fished with us all week and had a good shot of dorado including this nice bull he got on the flyrod after just missing a rooster on the fly. He’s on the beach here at Bahia de los Muertos.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ed Sakuda was on his first visit to fish Las Arenas and we think he’s “sold” on coming back with 3 days of dorado fishing. His sister Caryn and her husband Mark Aizawa from Pasadena CA get in the photo too!

Dan Llerena tags 8-14 small dorado

Daniel Llerena from Buena Park had never fished salt water before and his dad hadn’t fished in salt water in more than a decade! The two of them came down and got in two quick days of fishing with some great results! Dan was fishing with Captain Joel when he put the hurt on this mahi.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Lee Carlson from the Denver Colorado area, spent 6 days on the water with us fishing with both our Tailhunter fleets and shows off one of his better bull dorado he got near Cerralvo Island.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action.  The family is from Upland CA.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action. The family is from Upland CA.

marlin dan and gino llerena tags small 8-14

Gino and his son Daniel Llerena got in two quick days of fishing and made the most of it with some nice dorado as well as this striped marlin on light tackle. Cerralvo Island in the background.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Kelly Soo Hoo has fished with us before and did really well. This time she brought her son, Nick, for his first experience. Nice had a great time and got a variety of fish including these very tough jack crevalle!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

From Bankor, Pennsylvania, Rich Normyl had a full hand of mahi. Check out the storm clouds coming up behind him at Bahia de los Muertos!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The whale sharks have returned to La Paz bay. Dan Hayler took this great photo of a “baby” whaleshark of only about 20 feet in the shallow bay water. They can grow to over 50 feet long and are true sharks, but are gentle and have no teeth and eat plankton.

This is what 15 minutes of rain produces on the La Paz waterfront right in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant Bar.

 

CRAZY WEATHER PACES FISH BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2014

 

Even with the week of “super moon” we still had a pretty decent week of fishing going on.  Even with the tropical thundershowers late in the week that were almost like baby hurricanes, the fish still bit.  But it was a bit of a challenge.  But, like I said, the fish still bit.

The super moon was beautiful over Baja waters, especially here in La Paz over the bay making it much like a postcard with the huge bright moon shimmering over the bay and the palm trees.

The big problem was more of these afternoon thunderstorms that crashed into us late in the day.  Fortunately, mostly after the fishing was done.  But something to watch.  Blue skies would darken quickly.  Incredible lightning storms would follow then almost simultaneously thunderclaps that would sound like they were right overhead.  During one 2 hour period during one storm, over 70 light night strikes were counted.  During another storm, a bolt hit a palm tree on the malecon waterfront area igniting it which then caused it to fall on the palapa roof of a popular bar.  The bar caught on fire then burned to the ground with huge flames 30 feet in the air.

Within minutes of the thunder and lightning the rains would cascade.  Huge rolling waves of sheer water flooded streets and turned many into rivers and lower areas and arroyos into raging category 2 or 3 cauldrons that would’ve been the envy of whitewater kayakers…except they were all brown mud!

Cars suddenly found themselves up to the doors in water and many stalled.  Neighborhoods found themselves turned into islands with people trapped in long rainy lines unable to leave the area and others in the opposite directions unable to return home.  Off the La Paz cliffs, mini-Yosemite-like waterfalls tumbled 20, 30 40 feet to the roads along with rocks and boulders.  In a one hour period during one storm, more than 3 inches of water descended on La Paz.

But, like I said as far as fishing, at least most of this was all taking place later in the day or evenings when the fishing was done.

LAS ARENAS

There was only one day during the week when we decided it wasn’t worth it to fish Las Arenas because of the stormy conditions.  The rest of the time, for the most part, Las Arenas was pretty much as good as it has been all year.  Relatively speaking.

We actually even had small sardines to use for bait and we had flyfishers hooking rooster fish, dorado, jack crevalle and bonito.

The dorado were 5-15 pounders with a few 20-30 pounders as well.  If a boat found the right spot, limits were pretty easy.  Roosterfish, while not as plentiful as earlier in the season were still around with most in the 10-30 pound class.  Bonito, jack crevalle and even some barred pargo gave us some variety.

LA PAZ

Our La Paz fishery has been the most consistent all year.  Some days are better than others, like anywhere else, but 9 out’ve 10 days, the fish are around and biting.  Even on that 10th day, I’m not sure what the issue is, but anglers and my captains will tell me…”The fish were all around.  We could see them or they would sniff the baits, but just wouldn’t take the baits!”

That was usually made up for on the other days of fishing when the dorado would be found in many areas from just inside the bait to the island and then around the point to El Rosario and Las Cruces.

Generally, the fish were 10-15 pounders although there were still persistent squirts in the 5 pound class around.  But, larger 20-30 pounders were not uncommon.  We also hooked some marlin and sailfish with most being released as well as some stray rooster fish that ran about 30 pounds near Espirito Santo Island.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 3-10, 2014

Jack Calafata tags dorado small 8-14

First-time visitor to La Paz with Tailhunters, Jack Calafato from San Diego got one of the larger dorado of the week scoring with this nice bull on his first day of fishing while on the water near Bahia de los Muertos.

dorado bob tags small 8-14

Our good friend for many years, Bob Lederer, from Massachusetts with Captain Ramiro and a trophy bull dorado taken at Las Arenas.

rooster Rich Normyl from PA tags 8-14

Somewhere behind this fat round roosterfish is Rich Normyle from Bangor, Pennsylvania. His first bait hit the water and got spanked by the big fish and took 20 minutes to get to the boat. It was photo’d and released. Captain Raul with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet looks on and “helps” with the tail!

Mitch Bohna tags dorado small 8-14

Captain Pancho is all smiles with our Oregon amiga, Mitch Bohna, and her dorado she hooked very close to the beach off Boca de Alamo.

DEnnis Adair Doug Oclassen tags

Not a bad start to several days of fishing. Dennis Adair from N. California and Doug Oclassen from Colorado pose with a nice bunch of mahi on the sand.

rooster Kris Luke tags small 8-14

Big smiles from Kris Brownlee who gets a hand from husband, Luke, with this fine roosterfish that chased a live ladyfish between Boca de Alamo and Bahia de Los Muertos justt off the rocks. They caught and released several nice fish.  They’re from Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Shelley tags dorado small 8-14

Captain Armando poses with our amiga, Shelley McDonell on the sand with a nice bull dorado that still has its colors. Shelley and Captain Armando always make a good team every year.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The ladies had a good week! Captain Jorge and Patty Lovato from the Denver, Colorado area on her first trip to fish with us in La Paz.

Ed Begany tags small dorado 8-14

OC in the house! From S. California, Brendan Rowland, Dr. Mark Mulkerin and Ed Begany spent a few days fishing with us at Tailhunter and got into some good action with 2 days fishing at Las Arenas.

image

Dennie Dyer and Matt Lederer were just fishing with us and insist they got a yellowtail! Take a look. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but Dennie does seem to be holding a yellowtail…a fish we only catch in the colder waters! It might be a rainbow runner (yellowtail cousin), but hard to tell. Still a nice catch and tasty too…with the dorado!

DORADO KICK IT IN AT LAS ARENAS FINALLY !

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 3-10, 2014

Once again, dorado really kept up the for both our Tailhunter fleets this past week.  Weather and water were fairly cooperative and threats of rain, while bringing some clouds, never materialized and, instead helped keep the heat away, although the humidity was still pretty thick.  All-in-all, a pretty good week of action!

LAS ARENAS

Over the past few weeks, this has been our tougher spot.  There have been fish there all year, but lots of small fish and not a whole lot else.  It if weren’t for the rooster fish there or the fortuitous marlin or sailfish plus jack crevalle and bonito, it would be a real yawner.  Don’t get me wrong.  Still good fishing!  But, historically, this time of year, Las Arenas should be on fire instead of a steady smolder.  But, we’ve been spoiled all these years.  The lack of bait hasn’t helped.

Many of or clients have switched to our other fleet at La Paz to get not only more fish, but bigger fish!

Not so, this past week.  We actually had the migration of clients doing just the opposite!  We had clients wanting to spend more time fishing Las Arenas than La Paz.

For one, it was a little easier to get bait.  In fact, we even had some small sardines by the end of the week.  Whether the fishing was a function of the bait, or there were simply more fish in the water, the quantity as well as the quality o fish improved.

There still weren’t alot of “beast fish” with most of the larger fish being 20 pounders or so with a few 40 pound dorado.  But, the “smaller fish” were much better.  Instead of the 5 pound punks we were getting all season, the upgraded models were 10-12 pounders and limits of fish were fairly common.  As one of our anglers said, “We could honestly have caught 10, 20 or more dorado each day,  if it wasn’t for the fact that we wanted to get more variety and went chasing other species 1/2 way through the day.  We got all the dorado we wanted!”

Sorry, no tuna have shown up…yet!  And wahoo fishing hasn’t been so great either the last few weeks.  However, there’s quite a few marlin and sailfish around if you want to chase them.

Even our flyfishermen got into the fish this week as well!

LA PAZ

For the past few weeks, if you wanted to fill your ice chest, we had you fishing with our La Paz fleet.  More and bigger fish had been the rule rather than the exception.

This past week, Las Arenas actually stepped out a little better.

It was still good for our La Paz anglers, but it seemed like there were more small fish than normal and not as many.  However, if you wanted a shot at a 30-40 pounder, La Paz still gave you the best opportunity at a trophy.

The fish are in a wide area.  You can seriously find fish right in the bay.  In fact, we can see dorado, roosters and jack crevalle breaking just a few hundred yards in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant every day from our 2nd and 3rd floor terraces and birds working the schools like crazy.  So, if you honestly didn’t want to go out too far, the bay is definitely holding fish.

Other areas are just south of Espirito Santo Island and along the current breaks west and east of the island.  Another hot spot that’s actually being shared by both our Las Arenas and our La Paz fleet is just offshore from El Rosario/ Las Cruces/ Punta Gorda north of El Sargento.  Some of our largest fish every week come from that drop off area where the shallow water falls off into the trench.

If you’re looking for billfish, sails and marlin are being caught right in the middle of schools of small dorado.  Presumably, the billfish are in the schools feeding on the smaller fry dorado.

Roosters are getting round along the beaches too!  Still some hog 40-60 pounders around.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of March 23-30, 2014

yellowtail rod brown tags 3-14

It’s been awhile since we had some good yellowtail photos to post up but we finally got a few this week. Captain Joel and our great amigo, Rod Brown from Alaska pose with a nice pair of forkies taken north of La Paz!

dorado brown 3-14 tags

And dorado too? Triple shot of mahi for Captain Joel, Jeff and first-timer Miles Brown.

yellowtail jeff brown tags 3-14

All the way from Minnesota, Jeff Brown, stuck this trophy yellowtail near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz Bay.

cabrilla jeff brown tags 3-14

Great eating and a super-sized cabrilla (Mexican seabass) for Jeff.

terrafin 3-20-14

Check out the latest satellite images of the ocean around La Paz and you can see where sea temps are abnormally warm ranging from the mid-70’s to 80’s already. Photo fromhttp://www.terrafin.com/sstview/showChart.php?ct=sst&zn=bc&rg=lap&ix=1&java=0

SPRINGTIME CONDITIONS BRING VARIETY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 23-30, 2014

 

 

Except for a few breezy days, it was more like late spring/ early summer style fishing this past week.  Air temps were in the low to mid-80’s and actually pretty pleasant.  Water temperatures which have risen unseasonably high have been in the mid-70’s to low 80’s.

The resulting effect was a decent mix of fish.  Some cool water fish.  Some warm water fish.  But, overall a nice variety.

The cooler water fish mostly taken inshore and in shallow areas included some nice yellowtail up to 25 pounds.  Nothing widespread, but a smattering here and there.  As well, we took some nice slugger pargo, cabrilla and sierra around both islands.  Some good fish were lost to the rocks…not unusual when big fish are holding close to structure like reefs and rocks!

Warm water fish…well, once again…dorado!  We’ve been getting them on and off for about 2 months now. Way early for a normal season, but once again the warm water species were found anywhere from the islands, to the shallows around the beaches, near the buoys and free-swimming in the channel.  No great numbers, but every day a few dorado here and there.  Mixed with the other species, it made for some interesting boxes of fish coming back in our pangas each day.

We’re going to keep an eye on these water temperatures!  Those temperatures will dictate what we’ll be catching.

THANKS EVERYONE!  ANOTHER ONE FOR THE BOOKS!

RoldansWEB

We’re finally headed home to La Paz.  After almost 3 months on the road encompassing almost 15,000 miles of driving…9 states…10  hunting and fishing shows including:  Sacramento, Denver, Puyallup (Seattle), Portland, Yakima, Phoenix, Boise, Long Beach, Salt Lake City and this past week in San Diego.  Whew!!!

And what a grand time we had…almost 20 years doing this now and every year it just gets better and better!  Jill and I want to thank all our amigos who came to see us at the shows and everyone during the 3 months for their friendship, support, encouragement and smiles.  And to all our friends for making us feel welcome and all the hospitality on the road…all the gifts…food…drinks…invitations…Tailhunter tribe members are the best!

Now, let’s head home to La Paz and get some fish! God bless you all!

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

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, 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.”

 

 

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of Feb. 16-23, 2014

dorado carol darby tags 2-13

Yes! It’s February and we’re catching dorado! Normally, warm water fish, apparently, no one told the dorado as we keep running into them like this nice bull taken by our Washington amiga Carol Darby with Captain Gerardo.

wahoo arkie tags

Another surprise this week! Wahoo once again showed up near Cerralvo Island like this speedy ‘hoo with Captain Archangel.

whales1-proc

Apparently, this is turning into one of the best whale-watching seasons in recent years! The whales are solid at Lopez Mateos at Bahia Magdalena and we’re running daily trips out to see them! Contact us for a trip of a lifetime getting close to these magnificent animals!

DSC02034

Thanks, everyone who came to visit us at the University of Phoenix stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. We had another great time at the ISE show! We also booked lots of La Paz trips too! We’re filling fast! Now we move onto Boise, Idaho! See the details below and come see Jill and Jonathan!

STRANGE MIX OF FISH AGAIN SURPRISE ANGLERS

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 16-23, 2014

Generally, not a bad week of fishing for our anglers, but again, just like the last few weeks, some unusual catches.  It’s almost getting to be an old record but the catches just don’t seem to make sense!

This is winter and catches are generally inshore and consist of inshore COLD water species.  Well, the bite has certainly been inshore, but the CATCH has been rather unusual.  For the past few weeks, and again this week, we caught dorado!  Dorado are warm water fish.  We catch them in the summer and fall when the waters are warm.

What else is unusual is that the fish were mostly caught pretty close to shore…while fishing for WINTER fish like the cabrilla (sea bass) and sierra and species like that.  We did indeed catch the sea bass, sierra, pargo and jack crevalle.  But in the middle of that, it’s pretty surprising to also get dorado.

Likewise, also got a few wahoo as well.  So, go figure.  Again, the wahoo are usually trophy fish that we pursue in the warmer months!  The wahoo ware taken off the north and south end of Cerralvo Island.  We’ll just have to keep following this.

All week, we’ve got a full week of fishermen so we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on with the bite.  Hopefully, find more pargo and yellowtail too!

TAILHUNTER TOUR MOVES ONTO BOISE, IDAHO!

cougar JR edit

Come visit us at the Boise Sporstmans Show in Idaho this week. They have some great taxidermy displays there!

Jill and I have been on the road now for 2 months and had some incredible shows in Sacramento, Denver, Puyallup (Seattle), Portland, Yakima and just finished one of our best shows ever in Phoenix at the University of Phoenix Stadium.  Thanks to all our amigos who stopped by and everyone who came by to talk to us about fishing with us this year in La Paz.   We now move to our 6th show in Boise, Idaho at the Idaho Sportsman Show at the Boise Fairgrounds.  This is a great show and we’ll be there from Thursday to Sunday!  Here’s some additional info.  Click the link:

Idaho Sportsman Show

Come visit us!  There’s always alot to see and great fun for the family.  We’ve got new Tailhunter t-shirts and hats that Jilly designed plus come chat about your La Paz vacation this year!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »