Crazy good yellowtail fishing this week…the best of the year. Brian O’Niel and Leif Dover came out to fish with us from Atlanta GA and timed a week’s worth of fishing just right hammering 6 ‘tails and losing 2 on their first day out…just as the bite started!
The yellowtail went off at Cerralvo Island and even the guys from La Ventana and El Sargento got into the big chew. (Thanks fot Hawk for the great photo!)
Recently retired Darrell George kicked off the “easy life” the right way coming out to fish with us from New Mexico with his dad and they also got into the big yellowtail bite with fish up to the 40 pound class off Cerralvo Island.
Check out this fat forktail hefted by Joel Zarmati who stuck this thick fish in the early morning bite off Cerralvo Island late in the week. (Thanks for the photo, Roger!)
This is what you call a “mossback” yellowtail…thick fish with the dark back! Big smiles and a heavy gaff from Leif as he sticks the fish. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.
Roger Thompson is one of those guys who has great ju-ju when he fishes! We normally don’t see billfish until the spring, but both striped marlin and sailfish are already in the area and already eating! Several of our fishermen took several this week. Roger was out for yellowtail when he stuck this nice striper. They were unable to let it go and cooked it up for everyone!
Brian did this yellowtail the hard way! He was using a sabiki rig (light tackle multi-hook rig used to catch bait) to catch mackerel to fish for yellowtail when this nice yellowtail crashed the rig and left Brian gingerly trying to get the fish back to the boat ! He and the fish went at it for more than 1/2 and hour before he put the fish on the gaff! Good job, Brian!
Gary Morris and his buddy, Graham live in El Sargento/ La Ventana and they took a day and got into the yellowtail bite too! Great eating!
Tailhunter heads to the Boise Sportsmens Show this week, but we wanted to thank everyone who came to chat at the booth including our best amigos, Tim and Taylor Torres who drove in from Las Vegas to see us! Tim and I used to be neighbors and hadn’t seen each other in about 25 years! They’re going to be coming to fish with us in La Paz! We signed up alot of new folks who’re coming to visit us in La Paz in 2013. Great show and a great time in Phoenix!
BIG YELLOWTAIL PLUS MARLIN AND SAILS BLOW UP AROUND CERRALVO ISLAND!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week for Feb. 17-24, 2013
Probably the best fishing week of the season!
It was pretty much wide open fishing around Cerralvo Island…at least for a few days…then it shut off for a few days…then went crazy wide open again later in the week!
Again, the winds…or lack of them…were the key! In the best yellowtail bite of the season, 20-40 pound fish ripped into pretty much everything that hit the water…live mackerel…dead mackerel…jigs and lures! Our own pangas fishing from Bahia de Los Muertos as well as pangas from La Ventana and El Sargento pulled up with commerciall pangas and private boats to jump on the bite.
One of our anglers said, “We got 6 yellowtail ranging from about high 20’s up to one at 38 pounds, we’ve basically filled 2 coolers already! Got 3 bonito and lost 2 more yellowtails today too, but not too bad a day. Wind was medium out of east in the morning and then switched to north and horrible by about 11 (in the morning) , got pretty rough on the ride from Cerralvo over to Las Suenos.”
“Can’t wait for tomorrow, these suckers are back breakers but fun as hell!”, he added.
The key was to get there early and get the live mackerel before too many boats got on the spots or the winds started to pick up. If you had the live “candy bait” mackerel, it was instant bendo. But, even if you had the dead bait, the big fork tails would jump the hooks. We had some guys even get bit while they were using their sabikis to catch mackerel! (See the photos of Brian O’Neil above!) These were solid stocky fish and about 30 percent of the fish were lost.
Roger Thompson told us this, “We were late getting there yesterday and we missed the bait bite. Only had 3 live baits and Captain Hugo got 5 dead baits from one his buddies. I hooked 4 on iron (lures) and boated 2. Donna caught 1 on on live bait and 1 on dead. My friend Joel caught 2 on dead bait. I couldn’t believe these fish were eating dead mackerel! “
However, in addition to the mackerel, surprisingly no one told the billfish that it’s winter! We had one of the nicest bites of sailfish and striped marlin that we’ve seen in quite awhile! Even for prime time…and this isn’t “prime time”… but no one told the billfish. We had one panga hook 6 stripers in one day catching and releasing 2 and losing 4 others. Some of the other pangas were also hooking them in several areas all around Cerralvo Island and even more surprising, there was a big school of billfish right off Punta Perico which is about 100 yards from the beach and about 3 minutes from where we launch our pangas!
More from Roger, “…I saw a fin on the water as we headed over to the island and thought is was a manta but only saw one fin. As we got closer it was moving, so we tossed a live mackerel at it with one of my 50-pound yellowtail setups. This marlin was hungry! He slammed the bait and an hour later we snapped the photo (see above) . He had a bad line cut on his eye and Hugo was salivating so we kept this one. Donna and I keep one marlin per year. It’s been 2 years since we took one…… Do you know how good fresh barbequed marlin is?? WOW!!”
If you couldn’t get the mackerel, sardines were blowing up the dorado (they didn’t hear that it was winter either!) as well as pargo, sierra and cabrilla.
Later in the week, the winds came up again and the bite quieted somewhat, but then this past weekend hit and the winds went flat. Sure enough, the yellowtail came up for the chew and blew up again! We’ve not had a yellowtail week like this in a long time!
TAILHUNTER TOUR HEADING TO BOISE IDAHO
We just wrapped up maybe the best show of the marketing season with 4 days in Phoenix at the International Sportsmens Expo. Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi and all the new amigos we met! We now move back north to one of the prettiest cities on our tour and take the booth to Boise, Idaho at the Idaho Sportsmens Show. We’ll be there from Feb. 28th to March 3rd (Thursday to Sunday). Come see us and let’s talk about your next La Paz fishing trip. Here’s more information: http://www.idahosportsmanshow.com/
2013 CABIN FEVER CLASSIC
Our 2013 Cabin Fever Classic dates have finally been set. We’re going to hold it April 10-15th and it’s our 10th annual trip and the only one that Jill and I personally escort. Lodging at La Concha Beach Resort… 3 days fishing…1 day island snorkel tour and picnic…Always lots of fun. No guarantee that we’ll catch any fish, but we surely have fun. Climb outta your cabin and come put your toes in the sand and fill your hand with a fishing rod and a cold one and lots of laughs! Spots are limited. Here’s the official details:
DATES: April 10-15
LODGING: La Concha Beach Resort in ocean facing rooms for 5 nights
FISHING: 3 days (tentatively 2 days Las Arenas and 1 day La Paz)
SNORKEL/ DIVING Island day (so popular last year we’re bringing it back): 1 day probably after 2 days fishing
FOOD: We’ll do the buffet at La Concha and we’ll do a taco feed at Tailhunters (if everyone wants) . April 12th is Jill’s birthday so we’ll have live music that night too! Beyond that, we’ll go out every night and whoever wants to go is welcome!
Cost: $1175 each double occupancy
For more details e-mail us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com
Have a great week!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine CA 91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm
Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
Tailhunter Fish Report 