La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 6-13, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
Short Attention Span Week at a Glance
Weather – A bit chilly and cool this past week. Mostly sunny skies in the mid-70s, but also some spotty rain showers here and there. Depends where you were.
Fishing – Quite a variety of fish. Hard to tell really when there’s not many folks fishing this time of year. However, the folks that did get out fishing did OK with some decent catches.
Type of Fish Caught This Week – small roosterfish, dorado, snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, bonito, needlefish, jack crevalle, small yellowtail.
Forecast – Actually some rain possibilities early in the week but hard to know where it will fall. La Paz encompasses alot of area. Rest of the week will be partially cloudy with highs in the mid-70’s down to the upper 50’s/ low 60’s.
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story
Ken Ward from Alaska probably doesn’t get a chance to wear those great shorts very often, but he also doesn’t catch any dorado up there either like this nice one just outside of Bahia Muertos where he was staying at Rancho Costa. Actually, a nice sunset bite!
Fun on the trout rods right in Bahia Muertos on feisty baby roosterfish. Ken got this and released it.
Some beautiful patterns on these nice cabrilla that make great eating for Steve Greer visiting from Wyoming.
El Jefe himself, Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos near La Paz with a couple of tasty firecracker yellowtail.
While Ken has another rooster bending his mini-rod, Chuck Chandler poses with another roosterfish. All roosters were released.
Some good eating! Mic Ward poses with a cabrilla and small amberjack some of the best cold water fish this time of year.
Not a whole lot happening this past week to be honest. It was a bit cold and chilly and not a lot of folks on the water as we hit that lull after the holidays. It’s hard to get a true assessment of fishing if there’s not that many folks getting out, but then again, there aren’t that many visitors and vacationers in the city to begin with.
However, there were a few out on the water who found some fun inshore action, especially on lighter tackle. Efforts produced a wide range of species that included a few dorado and even some small roosterfish that were all released.
Over the reefs and rocky areas, cabrilla and yellow snapper put the bend on the rods plus bonito, sierra, jack crevalle and some smaller firecracker yellowtail and smaller amberjack. Enough to keep folks happy and some good action.
This coming week looks a little cloudy and there’s even a chance of some rain with wind getting stronger and gusts to 25 mph later in the week. The temps looks like they’ll run from the mid-50’s to 70’s.
FINALLY!
Our 20-year-old Tailhunter website needed a re-model and facelift!
After more than a year of work, we’re excited to announce that our new and improved Tailhunter website is up and rolling! We think it looks great. It’s sleeker, faster and turbo-charged easier to use and more friendly for social media, cellphones and pads!
It still has a few little bumps here and there that need to be fine-tuned and we’re still adding more to it, but we’re ready to go!
Thanks to AQGraphics and Jaime Laureano for all his work and patience and spearheading all the months of effort.
Check it out! We hope you like it! Click the link:
We just wrapped up an incredible week at the International Sportsmans Show in Denver, Colorado. We had four fantastic days in our booth and it was great to see so many amigos who stopped by to say hi and meet many more new ones. Thanks to everyone who booked trips for 2019 and there were ALOT of you. We’re excited to have you come visit and we’re looking forward to seeing you in La Paz!
Now, we jump in our Tailhuntermobile and rumble back west through Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and back to California!
From Thursday to Sunday, we’ll be at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in SACRAMENTO for the ISE Show which is the largest fishing and hunting show in Northern California. I hear there are over 700 booths and vendors this year from everywhere from Africa to Canada and Alaska to South America!
It’s always a packed show and there’s something for everyone! Jill and I will be in the booth looking for you and hope you can stop by! Here’s more details about the show and also how to get
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 30, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Started a bit rough and windy but got better as the week went on. Mostly sunny with daytime temps in the 70’s. Some isolated showers. Coming week almost a duplicate.
Waters – Seem to be getting cooler and cloudier, but there’s still some warm patches holding warm water species like dorado and tuna.
Fishing – Quite a surprise. As the weather got better, so did the fishing. Ended up with some really great inshore action with quite a variety of unusual catches with both warm and cold water species!
Fish Caught this week: (cold water species) yellowtail, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, sierra. (Warm water species) dorado, tuna (hooked), wahoo (hooked), roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
All the way from Alaska, Mic Ward boats one of the first yellowtail of the season that bit a trolled Rapala. Mic was staying at Bahia Muertos near La Paz at Rancho Costa Resort.
Dorado in January right off the Punta Perrico rocks! That’s amigo, Gary Wagner who owns the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo and Rancho Costa Resort.
Lew Cox from San Diego just wanted to get away for some sunshine and had one day to fish and got a bit of variety for the fish box including sierra, dorado and bonito.
Steve Green has himself a dandy cabrilla caught just outside of Bahia Muertos. Steve is from chilly Wyoming and was staying at the Rancho Costa Resort.
Great shot. Great fish! First yellowtail bite of the season! Gary got this forkie trolling a Rapala X-Rap 40 deep diver.
Windier weather at the beginning of the week (and the year) put fishing on the slow side, but as the week went on, conditions improved and a nice variety of fish showed up especially for our anglers fishing in and around Muertos Bay.
In fact, the bite was surprising for the incredible mixed bag of both warm and cold water species.
Warm water species included dorado and smaller roosterfish as well as bonito and jack crevalle. Cold water fish, more common to this type of year included our first yellowtail of the season plus cabrilla, snapper, pargo, and sierra. Live bait is a bit difficult, but the fish showed no hesitation biting jigs, lures and trolled Rapalas.
None of the fish were far offshore…often within casting distance of the beach or rocks.
Nothing really big, but for many folks just down to find some sunshine and not really caring too much about what was biting, it was great action. Often you just never knew what was going to bite and at times the bite was full-speed. Anglers working light tackle really had a hoot.
Gray whales are starting to show up and the vanguard of the migration are moving in. Whale watching season should be good and we’ll start running trips in about 2 weeks.
The whales have been more than cooperative to come visit with the boaters!
TAILHUNTER 2019 ROAD TOUR
Here we go! Jill and Jonathan are on the road again! For over 2 decades we spend the first 3 months of the year in the gypsy caravan covering over 15,000 miles and all the big fishing and hunting shows in the Western U.S. It’s a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new amigos!
This week, Jill and I will be in our booth at the Denver Convention Center for the International Sportsmens Expo! It runs from Thursday to Sunday (January 10-13th) and it’s an incredible fun event for the whole family!
There will be hundreds of fishing and hunting outfitters from Canada, Alaska, Mexico, Africa and just about every other location on the globe. Tons of gear and new equipment. RV’s and camping. Off-road and boating. It’s all there.
We’ll be in our booth for the entire 4 days. Come by and say hi and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz . Dates are filling so let’s get you set up!
Enough stuff for 3 months on the road! Me, Jilly and Catlyn! Driving through Texas on our way to Denver this week!
God bless TEXAS!
Here’s more info plus how to get tickets. Click this link!
La Paz-Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec 23-30, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span – Week at a Glance
Weather – Sunny to partially cloudy all week . Highs mid-70’s. Lows down to a chilly high 40’s. Had quite a bit of wind this past week. One day the port captain shut down the port from all boat traffic in-or-out because of the rough waters.
Fishing – Not bad considering the weather and time of year. It could be rough, but both warm and cold water species caught.
Fish Caught This Week: Dorado, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, tuna, white bonito, Pacific bonito, jack crevalle.
The Big Picture and Rest of the Story…
Billy Wong from Colorado Springs was staying at Muertos Bay at the Rancho Costa Resort and earlier in the week found the tuna as well as dorado and bonito.
Nice mix of fish for Dave Perkins who had one day later in the week under cloudy skies and put dorado, cabrilla and two kinds of bonito in the ice chest.
Billy Wong with a chunky bonito that provided some good rod-bending all week.
It was a bit of a windy, cold and cloudy week for the Christmas holidays, especially as the week went on. However, being off-season, there weren’t that many folks out anyway or wanting to fish, specifically because of the winds and rough seas. There was even one day where it was so rough the La Paz port captain closed to port prohibiting all boat traffic in, our, or on the water.
For the sturdier folks that did go out and braved it, the fishing was about as erratic as the weather, but they found some fish. And it was a nice mix. Fortunately, it was all close to shore too which offered more protection.
There were a few nice yellowfin tuna hooked. Surprisingly, also some scattered dorado as well. A bit unusual to have warm water species like these hanging out this late in the year. Add in some snapper, cabrilla and pargo fishing over the rocks and reefs plus nice numbers of bonito that are always good for action and it wasn’t too bad.
The coming week looks like about the same with some strong bouts of wind with partially cloudy skies and temps in the high-70’s and at night in the mid-to-high-60’s.
FISHING IN 2019
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We are coming off one of the best fishing seasons in the more than 24 years we started Tailhunter Sportfishing. We’re a full-service outfitter and can customize your perfect fishing vacation. We’ll set up lodging, airport transfers, fishing, SCUBA, kayaking, snorkeling, whale-watching and so many other activities. Ask us about one of our packages.
Dates are filling up and reservations are coming in daily with so many folk wanting to get in on the fishing action and lots of regulars and repeat anglers! Let us know what we can do so you don’t miss out!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 16-23, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Some of the best in a long time. Minimal winds. Flat seas. Sunny skies in the high 70’s and low 80’s
Fishing: Too bad not many folks fishing! The fish were biting close to shore.
Fish Caught: Tuna, wahoo, dorado, snapper, bonito, pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle
Forecast: Winds come up later in the week might be a bit rocky to fish late next week
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Amigo Gary Graham of Colorado Springs CO and also the Rancho Costa Resort used a Cedar Plug to get tuna like this as well as other species this week.
Happy guy! Mauricio Villanueva wit a chunky yellowfin just outside of Bahia de los Muertos.
Good news…bad news…good news.
We had one of the better weeks for weather than we’ve had in a long time. Some breezes, but mostly just nice sunny weather in the high 70’s to low 80’s which is perfect for the snowbirds now visiting La Paz. Compared to some of the blustery windy days we normally have, it was pretty good winter fishing weather.
The bad news is no one is really fishing or wanted to go out. We had some walk-in fishermen…the ones who are here on vacation then just want to go out for a day, but those are rare. We had others who booked reservations ahead of time like normal. But, when they got to La Paz, they decided to just chill and kick-back on the beaches with family and friends. I get it. Oh well. That’s why this is a nice place to hang out for the winter in Baja.
The other good news is that for those who did go out this week, the weather contributed to good fishing conditions and even if the wind was breezy, we didn’t have to go out more than a hundred yards or so to get into some nicer grade tuna; schoolie dorado; and even a few wahoo biters. The tuna were surprising 20-30 pound fun-sized yellowfin. Dorado, were smallish with most hovering around 10-pounds but nice fish for the fishermen just looking for some action, especially if they were first timers. Plus a good number of tough bonito to bend rods.
Inshore, the usual species of snapper, jack crevalle, sierra plus an occasional big cabrilla rounded out the boxes.
This coming week, the earlier part of the week looks like it will remain fairly decent weather-wise for Christmas, but then picking up again later in the week when it might not be so comfortable for fishing.
CHRISTMAS SHOUT OUT
From us to you…all of us on the Tailhunter Team in La Paz, we wish you a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and holidays. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing this week, God bless!
In two weeks, we’ll be hitting the road for our annual Tailhunter Road Tour for 2019. We’ll be on the road, as usual for 3 months and will hopefully see you along the way. Our first stop will be at the Denver Sportmens’ Show at the Denver Convention Center Jan. 10-13 (Thursday to Sunday). Jilly and I will be in the booth ready to chat about fishing with us in 2019 and would love to see you!
Don’t forget out 2019 Whalewatching season will kick off in a few weeks! The whales are usually with us from mid-January to late March! Ask us about setting up a great family experience in the waters of Bahia Magdalena for you. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to these great creatures! E-mail: Jonathan@tailhunter.com
La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 9-16, 2018
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Pleasant week for the most part. Low in the 60’s and highs in the high 70’s. Mostly sunny. Winds gave us a break earlier in the week but got stronger (and colder) as the week went on.
Water – Choppier and rougher later in the week
Fishing – More blue water species early in the week when the winds were down and it was calmer. More inshore and rock fish as weather got rougher and we had to fish closer in.
Species Caught This Week: dorado, tuna, cabrilla, seabass, bonito, snapper, jack crevalle
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa there at Muertos, hooked 4 dorado and got 2 to the boat. He had a wahoo come off and he had a tuna on for over an hour before it came unbuttoned. Looks cold!
Laura Hernandez from San Diego got out a few days earlier in the week and got into the dorado. Later, as conditions changed, some huge sierra.
Not too bad a week, for the weather. It was just cold (by our La Paz standards!). Tourists were still running around in shorts while locals donned long pants and jackets! Likewise, earlier in the week, winds laid down long enough to get boats out and fortunately for our type of fishing, no one really had to go out very far.
There’s still some schools of dorado around with some nicer 15-20 pounders mixed in. Very surprising given the time of year. Along with the dorado, some tuna were also hooked and a wahoo did bite one of the lines but came unbuttoned which is an encouraging sign (that it bit, not that it came off!). Plus, add in the usual bonito and way too many needlefish. All-in-all, not too bad.
As the week went on, winds came up again and the waters changed resulting in more restricted fishing with colder-water species like sierra, jack crevalle, cabrilla and snapper biting. Hard to know when not that many folks are fishing. Most of the visitors to town are snowbirds just looking for sunshine and an escape from even colder places. Locals are all getting ready for Christmas.
WHALES ON THE WAY!
Our annual whale-watching season is almost upon us. Migrating yearly from the Bering Sea by Alaska, the whales are on their way to Baja to mate, give birth and hang out in the warm lagoons of the Pacific. We have daily and overnight trips booking fast. Contact us for more details for a great family trip!
SPREADING THE CHEER
Many of you know that my wife, Jilly, has had a program for five years whereby Tailhunter Outreach program collects clothes, toys, sporting goods, school supplies, medical supplies and more for needy folks and communities in and around La Paz. It was originally started after Hurricane Odile crashed into us in 2014, but the program just kept growing. To date, our Tailhunter amigos and brought down over 3 tons of good that we distribute throughout the year! Jill also has a scholarship program to keep kids in school as well.
Everyone’s favorite guy…Jorge Romero
This past week our own, Jorge and Sandra Romero donated almost 200 pounds of toys to the kids of Los
Planes (near Muertos Bay where many of our captains and their families live). With the assistance of Gary Wagner and his crew at Rancho Costa, all these kids got something for Christmas! Thanks, Jorge and Sandra!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 2-9, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK at a GLANCE
Weather – Yuk. Not only windier and rougher, but two days of the week we had rain and it was pretty hard at times. But, not really anyone fishing those days anyway.
Fishing – Whoever went out at least, they got fish! Some nice cabrilla, pargo and snapper. Bonito always make for fun and some random dorado still around
Forecast – Later ths coming week might get pretty windy around Thursday and Friday. Mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid-70’s. Nights in the low 60’s.
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Bonito and snapper in the box. Fun fishing. Snapper are excellent eating.
Not much to report this week. There’s a number of things to point at.
First, it’s off-season. Just not many folks fishing between November and April. It can be windy and rough. And indeed, that’s the 2nd reason there’s not much to report.
It was not only cold and windy this week, but it rained. In fact, it rained pretty hard at times. That winter storm “Diego” that dropped show and rain in California; flash flooding in Texas and is now slamming into the East Coast started down in Baja! So, that’s not exactly conducive to fishing.
Finally, tack on the fact that this is the “lull” between the holidays. There’s just not that many folks in town. Some snowbirds mostly or folks just looking for a little sunshine compared to where they’re from. And they’re not really in town to do much or any fishing.
All that being said, there was some spotty to OK fishing taking place. Inshore species like snapper and cabrilla…sometimes large cabrila provided action. For a lot of first-timers, bonito are always fun too. Some good eating sierra were taken and here and there’s schools of dorado running 5-15 pounds were about the only blue-water species around, but a hoot for a lot of these snowbirds.
WHALE WATCHING SEASON COMING UP SOON!
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Don’t forget! January to March is our prime-time whale watching season over at Magdalena Bay. Ask us about more details for this great family adventure. It’s the largest migration on earth and a fantastic experience to get so close to those incredible animals.
Weather – 7 (Mid to high 80’s and sunny but can be very gusty)
Fishing– 6 (Some BIG fish out there!)
Catching – 4 (There’s some BIG fish out there…and we’re losing them!)
Bait– 4 (Work to get mackeral at Las Arenas / Better for La Paz)
Flyfishing Condition – 2 (winds + no bait to chum)
My Optimism – 6 (Getting better as these winds diminish)
THE BIG PICTURE FISHING REPORT
What a great shot! John Frederick just had a nice rooster on the flyrod, but hooked this one on bait and posed it for a great photo! Poster quality shot! John’s first time with us! John released the fish.
Triple shot of wahoo with Captain Victor with Mike and Chris Wilbur from Kansas. WOW!
Happy guy, Taylor Westberg’s first rooster is a slug! Right off the lighthouse at Las Arenas! Taylor is from Copperopolis CA and visted us for the first time. Taylor released the fish.
Her first dorado! San Diego in the house with Toni Hayden. She said it was “delicious!” Caught north of La Paz by the island!
Finally checked off his bucket list, Mark Jacklin hefts up a nice roosterfish and a big smile. Mark came to visit us from Oregon. Mark released the fish to fight another day.
Taylor Westberg helps grandpa Rick with his biggest dorado. It’a a nice bull from the Las Cruces area.
Bob Lederer, from Massachusetts, has been fishing with us over 10 years and loves fishing with Captain Jorge who helped him hold up another big roosterfish. The guys let the fish go. Bravo!
Stacy Florence from Kansas with the right kind! Good wahoo for our amigo on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.
Captain Gerardo helps out our best amigo Glen Oclassen who has been fishing this area for decades and put the bend on another nice roosterfish! They released the fish.
Colton Atkinson had himself a memorable week visiting us for the first time including this colorful dorado!
One of the best eating fish around is the pompano and Robbie Shields got a couple of these big jacks!
Our San Diego amigos, John Stone and Jeff Correria with a pair of bulls with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Robbie Shields and Captain Gerardo hoist a thick heavy roosterfish. The rooster was released.
Colton Aktinson with his first roosterfish. Punta Perrico in the background. He released the fish.
Captain Adolfo with a fresh wahoo taken by Chris Jolly from Kansas on his first trip with us.
Some huge jack crevalle this week! Jeff Correria has a fat one. Tough fighters!
New Jersey, Matt Lederer, has a pretty rooster. Cerralvo Island in the background. Fish was released.
Happy Birthday, Riley Florence with his dad, Adam and Captain Pancho finally got a wahoo after 4 days on his last day!
Carson and Colton Atkinson with some fine eating dorado and triggerfish. They also released a roosterfish as well.
Dave Sundgren tries to hold up his big rooster for a proper photos so he can release it! These fish are HEAVY! Especially after you’ve been battling them!
On a roll! Captain Gerardo and Darrell Blasi with Darrell’s roosterfish just prior to releasing it! Notice how close the beach is!
That’s alot of meat! Chris Jolly and Dave Sundgren with a mess of triggerfish and a wahoo for the frosting!
Captain Gerardo was on fire this week! Two more wahoo!
Carson Atkinson with dad, Dave, and two doubles of dorado!
I just had to post this! Rick Westberg and Captain Pancho with a beast of a needlefish!
FISHING SO-SO BUT GREAT FOR WAHOO and BIG ROOSTERFISH
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 28-June, 4, 2017
Well, those winds came back on us again this week and didn’t help things. Fishing wasn’t great, but it was surely GOOD for some fish! Notably, two exotic trophy fish really lit it up for us, namely big rooster fish again and wahoo saved our week with some hefty fish; big battles; lost fish and some great excitement. The thing with this kind of fishing is that, it’s home run fishing. You get a big fish and you get one or two if you’re lucky but if you miss your fish or it’s just not your day, then there’s not much else. Big or go home. Trophys or trash. Late in the week, dorado showed up for our La Paz Fleet and that helped out a lot!
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
As mentioned, above some of the pesky winds came back on us again. Still fishable mostly, but winds hampered the ability to get bait. Just the way it is. The fishing counts directly reflected that.
Early in the week, the wahoo were hitting. These were nice 20-50 pound speedsters. Some days almost every one of our pangas had a shot and there were some really big fish too that were regretfully lost. Often, to no fault of the angler. These are just big powerful fish with sharp teeth and it’s heartbreaking to lose a big fish but that’s part of the sport and especially with these prized wahoo. I think we probably lost 60% of all the hookups and like I wrote earlier, that might be your only shot of the day. There wasn’t much else. However, the fish we did get were beauties.
Later in the week the wahoo bite tapered. The captains told me there were a lot of spear fishermen on the wahoo spots and that pretty much killed the bite.
Fortunately, the big roosters came back and we had a nice great of 25-60 pound fish. I think one day we had 9 big roosters boated among our Tailhunter Fleet. For lots of the anglers, it was their first rooster or biggest personal best fish so a good thrill.
Not much else except some bonito, cabrilla, a few pompano and snapper. Big fish or nothing. Still no sardines for small baits. Still not very good for fly fishing.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
It was erratic. When fishing was good for our Las Arenas fleet, it was slacking for our La Paz fleet and vice versa. And it all had to do with the winds. If the winds were blowing, it made it tough. Winter continues to linger!
Inshore, it was lots of big triggerfish and a number of bigger cargo and cabrilla lost in the rocks.
However later in the week, we had some decent numbers of 10-25 pound dorado come around. Some larger fish lost, but it was nice to see better numbers and a better grade of mahi-mahi finally appear.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE SHOUT OUT
This is Shawn Westberg’s gang of merry men making faces at the camera with Jill after bringing about 6 ice chests full of school supplies, sporting goods, clothes, hygiene items and more for our “Pack for a Purpose” program.
Mike Kelly and Barry Wood have been our friends for years. They also brought down a bunch of stuff for the kids…but I accidentally deleted the photo!!! Thanks guys! You’re the best!
Quick shout out to our amigos who brought stuff for our charities! The items this week went to the Women’s Shelter, the orphanage in Los Planes and will also go to some of the outlying neighborhoods of La Paz. Thanks for the big hearts, everyone!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
MEXICAN MINUTE MINI-VIDEO FISHING REPORT for WEEK of May 21-28, 2017
WEEK at a GLANCE (1-10)
Weather – 8 (what an improvement although still some wind!) But sunny and great!
Fishing – 6 (better than it has been all season, but lots of room to get better)
Catching – 5 (only because we lost so many darned good fish!)
Quality of Fish – 7 (Wahoo / big roosters / big cabrilla and pargo/ lost marlin and tuna)
Bait – 1 (Las Arenas almost non-existent) . 4 (La Paz not bad but not great)
THE BIG PICTURE AND REPORT
Largest pargo liso of the season and one of the largest we’ve seen in a long time for Oregon amigo, Cody Johnson and Captain Pancho.
Captain Armando went out with Dwayne and Debbie Petenaude from the San Diego Anglers Fishing Club that’s here with us this week and put this beast wahoo in the boat!
Scott Damron from Oregon was the un-questioned roosterfish king of the week with 5 or 6 huge roosterfish (I lost count!) taken that averaged 60-80 pounds! All released like this big boy with a hand from Captain Pancho.
From Huntington Beach CA, first-timer with Tailhunter Sportfishing Mark Garrity and his wahoo with Captain Gerardo.
Great mix of eating fish for Dave Codding from Idaho and Captain Armando including big triggerfish, a dorado and some nice pargo.
Our good amigo, Tom Mullican from Idaho finally put a wahoo in the box after getting bit off or losing several during the week. With Captain Jorge!
Another huge roosterfish for the Damron family! Dale Damron used to be a charter captain in Oregon and is all smiles with Captain Pancho for another catch-and-release giant roosterfish.
Paul Markowitz had only one day to fish with us, but hit a homerun with this wahoo. Paul is from Idaho.
Kyle Monsrud really wanted to get a roosterfish and got this beauty fishing out of Las Arenas with our Tailhunter fleet. Kyle is from Portland and released the fish.
Gorgeous bull dorado for Mark Garrity of Huntington Beach CA. One of our largest dorado so far. We are seeing more and more dorado this season! He was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleeet north of town.
Good eating meat with this trophy cabrilla taken by Kirk Petre from Colorado who pulled this nice fish outta the rocks north of La Paz.
Captain Arcangel with the Duffy boys from New York with quite a variety including red snapper, dorado and wahoo.
Deanna Damron with Captain Adolfo had just hooked and fought a huge roosterfish but came up short, but right after, hooked this big old barred pargo.
Kyle and Holli Monsrud from Portland with a handful including a big bull dorado and a huge jack crevalle while fishing with our La Paz fleet.
Another nice wahoo on the first try! New York in the house!
Is this a big needlefish or what? Captain Adolfo gives Deanne Damron a hand with this monster!
Well-done Kyle! A good week for some big dorado like Kyle’s bull here.
WINDS LAY DOWN AND FISH WAKE UP!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 21-28, 2017
What a difference a week makes and what a difference in the fishing when the winds give us a break! For weeks, we’ve been lamenting the winds and how it affected the fishing, but we finally got the winds to dial-it-back for the most part and although fishing wasn’t WFO, or even great, it was 500% better than it has been with lots of variety and big fish. I think this week I saw over a dozen different species caught including wahoo, tuna, marlin, roosterfish, several species of pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, pompano, sierra, several species of bonito, triggerfish, snapper and more! You just never knew what you were going to hook up!
LAS ARENAS TAILHUNTER FLEET
Usually, this is the area where we get the most action and the most variety, but that just wasn’t the case this past week. This is where the bigger fish were hanging out! We must have lost 4 out’ve every 5 wahoo hooked up. Early in the week, I don’t think we landed a single wahoo and it wasn’t until later in the week when the guys started putting some ‘hoo into the pangas and not losing so many. In their defense, these are fast powerful fish with sharp teeth, but it would have been nice to land a few more!
We also got some huge roosterfish. The average rooster ran about 60 pounds this week with a number of fish in the 80 pound class. These were beasts and you had to catch the big foot-long ladyfish to use for bait. There’s a reason we’re called the roosterfish capital of the world.
We also hooked some striped marlin and rounded things out with bonito, triggerfish and some jack crevalle, reef fish and dorado. One of our guys had on a 50-pound tuna lost at color after about a 30 minute battle as well!
This was the best fishing we’ve seen in the area all year. Nothing spectacular by our standards, but any improvement was welcome. It can only get better. We did have one day where the winds blew our folks all over the place but they still caught fish. But, mostly this is bigger fish we’re seeing. So, you either get big fish and hit home run, or you don’t do so well. There’s not a lot of “in-between” action right now. If you chase roosterfish or wahoo or marlin, if you get one, you’re a hero. But you could also be one of the boats that gets goose-egged.
The biggest issue is bait. For all intents and purposes, there’s no live bait to be had so we’re using dead bait. We are selling bags of fresh frozen mackerel in the mornings and some of the guys are bringing fresh dead squid as well.
Fly fishing is a non-issue. We’ve had a handful of flyfishers this season, but they’ve done OK because they were also willing to use conventional gear and have some fun. Some of the fly fishing only outfitters in town are really hurting. If you’re coming with a flyrod, be ready to use conventional gear and you’ll have a good time. Bring the flyrod just-in-case the opportunity presents itself, but not only has it been pretty breezy to throw the rod, but also with no live bait to chum with, it’s hard to get the fish to come up.
Conditions are improving so have our fingers crossed and like I said, this was the best consistent bite we’ve seen.
LA PAZ TAILHUNTER FLEET
Normally, this is where the larger fish are found and the variety is over at Las Arenas. It’s been just the opposite this past week with fishing steadily improving as the week went on!
We got into some nicer dorado…in fact, some of the nicest dorado we’ve seen in two seasons. Plus there were big cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish and snapper to be had as well. Really some nice action and just like at Las Arenas, regretfully so many big fish lost, especially in the rocks. I think we lost about 60% of the hookups to inexperience of to rocks. But, still fun.
My captains are telling me the conditions are looking great. There were places where dorado and marlin were jumping everywhere, but just weren’t ready to chew quite yet. There’s sargasso weed building up everywhere which is a great sign for more dorado. They say it’s just about ready to bust loose if the water temps edge up just a degree or two more!
Hopefully soon!
That’s our story!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT for WEEK of MAY 14-21, 2017
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE (SCALE of 1-10)
Weather – 7 if you like sunshine. 2 if you like wind
Water – 8 if you’re from a cold place. 3 if you’re fishing. (colder than normal)
Fishing – 3 at best . (read below…it’s worth it!)
Fish Catching – 3 at best . (keep reading…it’s really worth it!)
Happy fella! What a day for the Damron family from Oregon! BIG ROOSTERS! Scott Damron got FOUR huge fish. Dad Dale and cousin Cody nailed another TWO! All fish SIX released strong! Several others broke off!
Former Oregon charter captain, Dale Damron and nephew Cody Johnson caught and released two big roosterfish off the Las Arenas lighthouse and had another bust off.
First-time Arizona amigo, Dan Cherry caught two of the larger dorado of the season fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city near El Coyote.
Brian Hoff had a good day pulling cabrilla out’ve the rocks! Nice chunks of the fish ended up getting grilled up at our Tailhunter Restaurant.
Another of Scott Damron’s four big roosterfish on the same day. The Las Arenas lighthouse in the background. All fish released.
Big smiles for Dan Cherry and another big cabrilla.
Dan Cherry and Betty Woods posing with more of their cabrilla.
BUT WAIT…LOOK WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST DAY! Just as I was going to print!
Nice pair for first -timer Mike Miller and return Tailhunter tribe amigo, Dave Codding and some sweet mahi mahi meat and Captain Armando!
Our buddy, Tom Ames, with Captain Jorge and some of the largest dorado we’ve seen this year! Tom is from Idaho and has fished with us several times over the years. Always good to have him back!
Tom Mullican, our amigo from Idaho who fishes with us several times a year and is about as hard-core as they come, with another dorado!
Brent and Amy Hyde from Montana with their first dorado fishing with Captain Victor!
Captain Ramiro got his guys from the Hoppa Group into the dorado too!
TOUGH WINDS – TOUGH CURRENTS – TOUGH FISHING…(Until the last day!)
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 14-21, 2017
Winter just won’t let go. Just like in so many spots in the U.S. where winter continues to cling or come back and brought snow, winds and rain this past week, we’re just as affected down here in La Paz. We had viscious winds early in the week that forced us to cancel two days with our Las Arenas fleet and fish everyone out’ve La Paz. Even when the winds diminished, it was still breezy and left us with green water and strong currents that made fishing difficult, unpredictable and with areas of green cold water.
The result, generally speaking, made for some difficult fishing. Strong current made it tough to get bait. When we did have live bait, the fishing areas changed from one place to the other. A spot that was hot one way would go totally slack the next day. Areas that were like a desert one day without any sign of life would suddenly hop with fish. An area that was blowing wind and choppy would be calm the in an hour and areas that were flat calm would suddenly be buffeted by double-digit gusts of winds. I think even the fish are confused!
Having our two fleets in two different areas helped because we tried to remain flexible to move folks to whatever fleet was doing better, but Mother Nature always has the last word and all we can do is make educated guesses.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
It was one of the more difficult weeks in the early season for this area. The first two days, of the week, it was again blowing so hard, we couldn’t even get in the pangas. Just not worth it. When we did get out, the currents were rolling so strong and fast that we had trouble getting any live bait. Even the commercial guys couldn’t catch any to sell.
We got some sierra, bonito and hooked a few dorado and that was pretty much it. Scratchy fishing at best.
Then, later in the week, conditions came together better and we rebounded with some of the best roosterfish of the season with some big trophy fish in the 30-80 pound class right off the sand at the Punta Arenas lighthouse. All the fish caught on big live ladyfish (sabalo).
Some billfish were also hooked as striped marlin and sailfish seemed to finally wake up.
LA PAZ TAILHUNTER FLEET
This is the area that had been really scratchy the last few weeks while the better fishing had been at Las Arenas.
However, true to form, everything flip-flopped this week! We actually had far better fishing north of La Paz.
Early in the week!
Near the islands and outcroppings we hit some big cabrilla and pargo. Lost even more big fish in the rocks including yellowtail and amberjack. Made up for it with good action on big triggerfish and fat bonito. Not great fishing, but decent action and a lot of fish lost! And we also have live mackerel and big sardines which makes a difference.
Around the peninsula near Coyote and Las Cruces we found some schools of 15-25 pound early season dorado! Some of the largest dorado that we’ve seen all year.
Then late in the week, things flipped again. Strong currents shut down the bite. And things went slack again. Just as the Las Arenas fleets started to find fish!
It’s a guessing game every week.
BREAKING NEWS!!!! (SEE THE DORADO PHOTOS ABOVE!)
Go figure. Just as I was going to print with the weekly report, our La Paz fleet turned in some big cabrilla, lots of action on triggers and other great reef fish . BUT WHOA!!!! Suddenly DORADO go off for our Las Arenas Fleet at Muertos Bay! Best dorado bite of the season and larger than any dorado we generally saw last year!
So, just when I’m whining….Mother Nature has another laugh on me! SUNDAY was a good day of fishing! We were due!
A WORD ABOUT FLYFISHING
We really haven’t had many flyfishers yet this season and generally most of our flyfishers don’t come in until later. But, we’re good friends with some of the flyfishing outfitters who don’t live here, but come to town for a a month or two and bring only flyfishers to fish here.
With all the winds and lack of bait, they’re not doing well. Several are canceling parts of their season or seeing a big drop off in their bookings. Or their fishermen are having to fish conventionally. These are outfitters who ONLY do flyfishing.
If you’re coming with a flyrod, my suggestion, as it has always been is to bring the flyrod, but be ready to fish conventionally. Have fun. We don’t mind if you grab one of our conventional rods or bring your own. If the opportunity presents itself, by all means throw the flies. But, if not, there’s no sense in just sitting in the panga bored or wearing out your arms.
Early indications show it’s not going to be a great flyfishing season so I’d rather be honest than blow smoke and mirrors at you.
Have a great week!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT VIDEO for May 7-14, 2017
WEEK AT A GLANCE (1-10 with 10 being best)
Weather– 4 (Sunny, but so windy the early in the week we had to cancel trips)
Fishing – 4 (when the winds weren’t blowing there was action…when it was blowing not so much)
Fishing Quality – 4 (When we could fish there were some bigger grade yellowtail and other species available, but big fish are hard to put in the boat and some really big fish were lost too!)
THE BIG PICTURE
Wow! You don’t see many of these around unless maybe you’re diving! Jessica McPartin of San Diego caught quite the grouper just inside of Bahia de Los Muertos near La Paz in the shallow waters by the reef point fishing with Captain Hugo.
Kevin Shiotani of Thousand Oaks CA has a reputation everytime he comes to La Paz to fish several times a year. He put this huge horse yellowtail in the boat fishing out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos.
One of the best eating fish in our waters! Megan Richman poses with a beautiful cabrilla taken off the rocks just south of Bahia de los Muertos. She was staying at Rancho Costa there.
Winds were down! Lee Hance with a hand from Captain Victor got himself bookends of nice yellowtail today. Lee is from Colorado.
Daniel Shay from San Diego doing it the fun way. Standup on light tackle throwing a popper with his spinning rod rocks an awesome butt-kick jack crevalle! Well done!
I’m told this is Jessica McPatin again with another cabrilla. Kinda hard to tell! But yes, it’s a cabrilla!!!
More nice yellowtail for Megan and friends! Thanks for Rancho Costa and Gary Wagner for the photo again! Bahia de Los Muertos in the background.
MIXED WEATHER – MIXED FISHING
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 7-14, 2017
A bit of an up-and-down week for weather and fishing with the two directly related to each other this past week. Winds were back up, especially during the early part of the week. They weren’t just up. They were strong enough that fleets either canceled boats or boats had to come back to shore. Fortunately, we didn’t have too many folks early in the week or they had enough vacation time so that they could make up the lost days later in the week when the winds diminished…somewhat.
Weather otherwise was pretty nice…except for the winds. Sunny and warm with highs in the high 80’s. Nightime lows in the mid-to-high-70’s.
On the days we got out, the bite was mixed. Again, we’re in that transition time between cooler and warmer conditions so the water conditions and the fish species are all over the map. Most of the catch this week reflected cooler water species since the winds generally kept the fishing closer to shore.
Some nice yellowtail popped taken on live bait or jigs. Schools of bonito and jack crevalle always made for great action. Along the reefs, we got into snapper, cabrilla and pargo and hooked (but lost) some larger amberjack. We saw a few marlin that weren’t quite ready to feed yet. Commercial fishermen saw some fast-moving schools of tuna and we did hook a few smaller bonito.
Forecast for the coming week show some slowing down of the winds, but there’s still some forecast for double-digit breezes and gusts.
That’s our story! Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day and thank to all you mom’s out there!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
