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Posts Tagged ‘fishing tips’

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Dec. 18-25, 2016

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Sue and Barry Schneider were able to squeeze in one day of fishing on Christmas Eve and got onto one of these great days when the wind layed down and the fish were biting. They got a great surprise with a couple of dorado, a nice wahoo and even a handful of bonito to round out the action. Some of the fish ended up at Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner to have us cook it up! They were fishing with Captain Victor.

WINDY CHRISTMAS WEEK BUT SOME WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 18-25, 2016

We had one of those windy wakes that made it tough for fishing with north winds blowing a number of days.  That was the bad news.  The good news was there weren’t many fishermen this week as most folks either had their minds on the holidays or were one of the visiting snowbirds enjoying some of the sunshine.   However, for the small windows that we did have fishing, we were again surprised by the catches.

Again, we’re only fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet from Muertos Bay where the fishing is more protected and closer to shore.  In addition to the usual “winter fare” like snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as bonito…

Well, things are still mixed up I guess because we still hooked wahoo and even some dorado which are generally fish we see when the weather and waters are warm. Dorado were not big but still…10 pounders are fun on light tackle and good eating and surely a surprise.  And, no one ever argues with catching a wahoo either.  Several were hooked and lost and a few brought to the boot were in the 20-25 pound class.  Again, a total bonus on a fishing day when you’re not expecting it.  

Que Dios Te Bendiga!  (May God bless you!)

From our Tailhunter Family and Crew to Yours! God bless for a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and excellent 2017!

From our Tailhunter Family and Crew to Yours! God bless for a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and excellent 2017!

Just taking a little time to reflect on a special time and how blessed we are during this time of year and always.  It’s because of you!   Wishing you Feliz Navidad from La Paz.   Enjoy your families and the holidays and we’ll see you in the new year!

That’s our story!

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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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Dec. 12-18, 2016

Rick and Amy Kasper from Wyoming run a hunting operation and Rick is also an outfitter and TV host on the outdoor channel. He and Amy hit a nice day of action boating 3 nice tuna on squid and losing another plus having their hands full on 8 or 9 bonito. .

Rick and Amy Kasper from Wyoming run a hunting operation and Rick is also an outfitter and TV host on the outdoor channel. He and Amy hit a nice day of action boating 3 nice tuna on squid and losing another plus having their hands full on 8 or 9 bonito. .

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That’s a HUGE needlefish. Rick Kasper and Captain Jorge with a monster marciel…gotta be 5′ long!

FULL MOON AND WINDS NO ISSUE AS BLUE WATER SPECIES BITE!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 12-18, 2016

Full moon?  Winter?  No problem.  As if to underscore just what a crazy season it has been, once again some of our best fishing in the last few weeks was this past week.  The fact that the winds dropped back a few notches had alot to do with it, but honestly, some surprisingly good fishing for species we don’t normally see during this time of year!

Again, not many fishermen out on the water, but that’s pretty normal as this is off-season.  But, those that were out, ran into some minimal winds, flat seas and quality fish.

In addition to the usual inshore species like barred pargo, snapper, and cabrilla, there were also bonito and jacks plus some HUGE needlefish working the waters for the anglers. 

However, the biggest surprise were the yellowfin tuna we hit off Punta Perrico and the south side of Cerralvo Island on the high spot.  These fish were nice quality 15-30 pound fish.  Plus the wahoo are still hanging out and willing to chase deep diver, Rapalas, Magnum Yo-Zuri and Mega Bait lures. Some of the fish ran 30 pounds or so.  These blue-water pelagic fish are a nice bonus this time of year. 

Winds coming back up again a bit this week.  We’ll keep you posted.  

WHALEWATCHING SEASON COMING UP!

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THEY’RE ON THEIR WAY…WHALEWATCHING SEASON IN A FEW WEEKS!

The annual migration of grey whales is underway and within a few weeks, they’ll start showing up in the calm, warm Baja water of Bahia Magdalena.   We’re already taking reservations for this incredible experience with a great opportunity to get up close and personal to these amazing gentle animals.  A trip makes a great present too!  Whale watching season generally runs from mid-January to late March.  Write to us at: Jonathan@tailhunter.com  and we can set up up your whole package.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black-letters

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Dec. 4-12, 2016

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There’s a little of this..a little of that right now. Alot of bonito…the occasional dorado plus inshore species like triggerfish and cabrilla.

THAT LULL BETWEEN THE HOLIDAYS – Full Moon Coming up Too!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 4-12, 2016

It was one of the better weeks for weather with minimal winds most days but just not many fishermen around.  I think everyone is geared or pre-disposed with the holidays at the moment or most of the visitors to La Paz are snowbirds making their way down to catch some sunshine or the luckier ones who get to spend all winter down here.  Even the locals are pretty tied up with Christmas at the moment with numerous Christmas Fairs, pageants, decorating and shopping.  For sure, there’s alot of tamale making going on!  

Fishing wise, nothing spectacular, but really hard to know when mostly it’s the commercial guys fishing.  Inshore fishing for snapper, barred cargo, cabrilla and jacks has been the predominant catch from what we’re seeing, but there’s still some dorado around.  Most are the 5-10 pound size.  For a little more fun, the bonito schools are ranging in the usual places with some fish up to 10 pound horses.   No tuna or wahoo caught, but that’s because no one was really fishing for them but I did hear of some schools of tuna breaking water just off Punta Perrico.  Two of our commerical fishermen friends did get hook-ups on wahoo, but fish came off.  Again, it’s hard to give a complete report when there’s not much sportfishing traffic out there.  Next week will be a little more complete.  

NOW BOOKING WHALE WATCHING TRIPS FOR JAN-MARCH!

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If you’d like a really unique trip, Baja isn’t just for fishing!  The whales are already making their way south and thousands of them will take up winter habitat in Bahia Magdalenda from January to March.  It’s the largest migration of animals on the planet and a great opportunity to spend time in the pristine shallow waters of the bay.

Tailhunters can set up your trips and put together full packages with lodging, transportation, day trips and more.  It makes a great Christmas present too!

 

That’s our story!  Hope you and yours are enjoying a fantastic holiday season!

combo-signature-black-letters

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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La Paz – La Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 27-Dec. 4, 2016

 

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It’s so hard to get him to smile sometimes, but Captain Archangel goofs with his “big” yellow snapper and some of the tuna his guys caught.

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Captain Adolfo with a nice tuna and a big barred pargo for his anglers.

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For almost winter, not a bad grade of tuna this week. And close to shore too!

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Captain Archangel again with some of Bob Pettit’s guys from Utah and found some decent dorado plus a big dog-tooth snapper and a yellow snapper. Great eating! They brought fish from their first night to Tailhunter Restaurant to have us cook it up.

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Utah guys in the house! Captain Armando got Robert Pettit and his aigo a dorado and huge triggerfish.

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Early in the week just as I had published our last report, Terry Robinson, had a small window to fish. His first day, was pretty slow, but on day two, he had quite the buffet of fish including a wahoo, big tuna, some cabrilla, snapper and triggerfish. Other wahoo and tuna were lost. Terry is from Idaho.

WINDY WINTER CATCHES ARE UNUSUAL

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 27-Dec. 4, 2016

Apparently, there’s still some warm-water pelagic species running around this late in the season.  There’s not many anglers around as this is the “gap” between the holidays and north winds made some days unfishable and provided scratchy fishing at best.   However, the few days we got folks out on the water, there were some surprising catches.

Normally, this time of year, the bite is pretty focused on inshore species and colder-water types of fish like cabrilla, pargo, jacks and snapper. Part of the reason, obviously, is that the waters are colder.  But, another aspect is that rougher winter conditions, keep us closer to shore fishing the reefs, rocks and sheltered areas.

This past week, it was cloudy and some days were really uncomfortably windy.  There was even a bit of rain as well.  However, the few days we had anglers out, it surely wasn’t off-the-wall fishing, but they tagged into some surprising catches.  These included some nice-grades of yellowfin tuna in the 20-pound-class.  Additionally, our captains found some spots of 8-15 pound dorado and even a few wahoo earlier in the week.  Throw those into the box with some nice barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, a cabrilla or two,  red snapper and triggerfish and it made for a surprising variety of fish. 

Weather this coming week is supposed to clear up with more sunshine, but winds will be increasing also. 

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black-letters

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Nov. 20-27, 2016

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A little of this.  A little of that. This is pretty typical of what our catch is like now that the seasons are changing.  Some bonito, sierra, pargo.

SNOWBIRDS IN TOWN – THE GAP BETWEEN HOLIDAYS

La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 20-27, 2016

Hope you and yours had a great Thanksgiving week!

Not much going on this past week.  Very few folks in town and most of the visitors are from colder climates and these snowbirds are just trying to find some sunshine.  They’re not necessarily in town to fish, or snorkel or participate in other water sports…except for the windsurfers who are starting to head towards La Ventana/ El Sargento near Las Arenas.  As our winds get strong and stronger, that area in the channel by Cerralvo Island is world-class for wind sports. 

As far as our fishing, well, it is indeed getting windier and not the most ideal for fishing.  So, you it is what it is if you plan to fish in the off-season.  It’s definitely usually sunny, but winds can make it bumpy and/ or limit the areas we can fish and the types of species we can fish for. 

Indeed, that’s what happened this week.  No big pelagic to report for the first time all season.  No dorado.  No tuna. No rooster fish.  No billfish.  So, maybe the warm-water season has finally ended.  

Or, maybe it’s just an aberration.  When there’s not many boats on the water, a few boats can’t be everywhere at once checking out all spots.  So, there could well be spots of big game fish still out there.  Or not.  As the season goes along and rolls into December, things will get clearer.  It’s definitely a transition time right now. 

So, what we got were some cargo, cabrilla, sierra and bonito.  Pretty much inshore species.  For now.  We should get a few more folks on the water now that Thanksgiving weekend is over. 

BUT WAIT!!!

Don’t close the curtains just yet…

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From Twin Falls, Idaho, Terry Robinson had a great day nailing this huge wahoo…losing a few others…tangling with a big dorado for a bit and also getting the wahoo below.

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And here’s the nice tuna. Chunky fish for November!

Just as I was putting out this report to make my deadline, we had some of our anglers hit wahoo and tuna!  And lost others!  So, hold everything.  Maybe it’s not over yet!

That’s our story

combo-signature-black-letters

Jonathan

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Nov. 13-20, 2016

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Brandon and Tanya McGarr (next photo) were down to see us for their first trip and also celebrating their birthdays. They’re from Rock Springs, Wyoming. At the same time, they got this double-hook-up of big roosterfish and had to fight each fish simultaneously. Nice late-season roosters and both were released. They also got a wahoo to take home.

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As mentioned above, Tanya McGarr tied up to this big rooster at the same time her husband, Brandon, also bit bit. It’s hard to hold up a fish for a photo when your arms are tired! She released the fish!

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Wahoo, like the ones caught by Paul “LP” Hieb with Captain Pancho, are still around, but not sure for how much longer as conditions are changing.

FISHING MIXED AS WINDS INCREASE

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 13-20, 2016

Things are really sliding into different conditions with each passing week.  More wind.  Still wonderfully, sunny but cooler.   More snowbirds showing up, not so much interested in fishing as just finding warmer conditions than where they were coming from.  Fewer families right now as we  approach the holidays and families have other things on their plates. 

As far as fishing, there’s far fewer anglers than we had even a week or two ago.  This is that “gap” between the holidays and the start of our off-season when we don’t see so many anglers again until late March or April. 

There’s still fish out there, but it’s hard to get a great read on things when there are so few boats on the water.  That one boat fishing just one day, might find the fish and have a banner time.  Or, they could miss the fish but if they had been 500 yards away in a different spot, they might have hit a honey-hole.  One or two pangas can’t cover the whole ocean.  

So, one thing is for sure.  There’s not a lot of boat traffic out there!  Further, it’s a crapshoot for fishing.  We do the best we can and we go have fun.  

The other thing that’s guaranteed is that the winds are going to get stronger from the north.  We have already shut down our Tailhunter La Paz fleet for the season.  It’s just too unpredictable to be outside the bay when it can be blowing outside even when the bay looks calm.  But even in the bay, sometimes, there’s whitecaps these days. 

So, all of our fishing has been pretty much with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet from Muertos Bay where at least the waters are a little more protected and the fish are closer.  

But, even that being said, we had four days this past week where I recommended that the clients not go fishing and fish a different day because the winds were too strong.  That made all the difference.  But, those were cases where the clients were with us for a few days and had flexible schedules.  

It’s different if some fishermen only have 1 day to fish or are walk-in clients to our store and want to go fishing…”tomorrow.”  I can only advise them that it might be pretty windy if that’s what the forecast says or completely tell them it’s not even safe to go out because the winds will be gusting. 

All that being said, out folks that went out this week got some nice variety out’ve Bahia de los Muertos.

There’s still some wahoo biting not too far outside of Metros and around Punta Perrico.  The fish are nice-grade 30-pound class fish most times.  Some a little bigger.  Some a little smaller, but still…a wahoo!  We’re still losing more than we’re putting in the boat.  These wahoo have gotten cagey.  They’re tough and fast and they’ve got those sharp teeth and are even biting off the Rapalas!

We also found a few tuna out there in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas too.  Just about 100 yards or so off the beach, there’s some breezing yellowfin of 20-30 pounds that are wiling to eat the squid. 

Near that same area, we also surprisingly got into some late season hefty 30-50 pound rooster fish as well.  I can’t remember getting roosters this late in the season, but that could also be because I can’t remember anyone fishing for them this late, but still…GREAT CATCH and another exotic tough trophy fish!

Rounding out, there’s some pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper and sierra working as well. 

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black-letters

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 8030 La Mesa, Suite #178, La Mesa CA  91942

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

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-53311

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

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

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

JOHN AND CHEETO small tags 8-13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 4-11, 2013

dorado joey kent 4 small tags 8-13

Joey Fuschetti and Kent Hawkins from Orange Co. California had a great 2 days fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. They got big racks of dorado, plus sailfish and pargo as well. They’re on the sand here in Balandra Bay. Joey has been fishing with Tailhunters now for 18 years!  Joey has been in the fishing report for many years but says he has NEVER been the first picture!  So…here you go, Joey!  Thanks , guys!

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From Ogden UT, Marcus Yoo, only had time to come down and squeeze in two quick days of fishing but made the most of it with 2 big days of dorado fishing and big bulls like this one…his personal best…that he caught off Las Arenas.

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Finally had the big squid show up this week and there’s nothing like starting the day out pulling these bad boys up from the deep to use for bait (or saving for eating!). The dorado and tuna both love them. Big grin from Russ Blount visiting us from Oregon holding up another big beast. The squid are just off Las Arenas.

dorado maricris bugatan 8-13 tags

First time in Mexico. First time fishing. First fish ever…a trophy bull dorado! The smile says it all. Maricris Bugutan gets a hand from Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet in posing with her trophy bull dorado.

craig corda dorado 8-13 tags

Our good amigo, Craig Corda, has visited us many times from his farm in the Imperial Valley CA and always seems to do well. He shows off one of his dorado with the classic pose and grin on the panga fishing off Las Arenas.

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This is a big fish and you can tell because Russ Blount is also a big guy! This bull dorado was one of several he caught along with a marlin his first day fishing with us this week.

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Not sure she wants to touch it! Maricris laughs at another big squid hauled aboard! This one ended up cooked up with garlic at our Tailhunter Restaurant that night for dinner!

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Captain Chito poses with my long-time friend and fishing buddy, Bob “Tio” Horton from Palm Springs CA The fish were caught around Espirito Santo Island and Las Cruces on a late-day bite.

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Yes…I still get out! (Thanks, Jilly) I’m showing off this bull mahi on the beach at Balandra Bay after a great day of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet We got limits that day.

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One of the best highlights of the week! Paul and Mike Zech from Sacramento CA like the street-cart hot dogs we serve at our Tailhunter Restaurant and showed up with these funny shirts! Just had to take a photo!

DORADO HELP WEEK FINISH FAST!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 4-11, 2013

The fishing week started out OK, then got kinda picky but everyone still got fish.  It was just one of those weeks where a boat would get 1 or 2 fish and the next boat got 4 or 5 fish for no rhyme or reason or you would go fishing and put 1 in the boat…then an hour later another fish…two hours later 2 fish….2 hours later 1 fish…and the day would go on like that.   And you would think, “Geeze…fishing is slow!”  Then you would look in the fish box or get back on the beach and realize you had nearly a limit of fish!

It might have had something to do with some strange cooler and greener water that just shows up mid-week. We didn’t have any storms.  There was no strong winds.  There was nothing that would tip-the-hand to show why patches of great blue water suddenly went dry on us!  Conditions were otherwise great…flat glassy seas…brilliant Baja sunshine…decent bait…patches of sargasso…but strangely very reluctant or absent fish.  You really had to work it hard to find them.

I made it out one day and we got a limit of nice dorado, but we must’ve put 50 miles on the panga going up, back out, in, around…we covered a lot of water.  By 1 p.m. we had only 3 fish in the box.  But, as our captains often do, our fleet hung out there and at 3 p.m.-4 p.m. the fish started feeding!  And we put another 5 nice-sized dorado in the box that topped out the day.

That is one big difference for us…especially for our La Paz fleet.  We’re out on the water at 6 a.m. and getting live bait.  We see some of the other fleets…some of them…not even getting out on the water until 7 or 8 a.m. when the sun is already up blazing and you can’t get bait that late.  Then, they’re back on the beach at 1 or 2 a.m. when our guys are still out there pushing to keep finding fish.  It really makes a difference when the fishing is picky.  And it often means the difference between 1 or 2 fish and a limit of fish…having live bait and staying out the extra time!

But, the nice thing too is that as the week went on, we got a great charge of fish at the end of the week.

Our La Paz fleet started finding better spots of dorado in the 10-20 pound class with some larger bulls to 30 pounds.  Using the bait we catch…caballitos, mackerel…then some sardines as well as fresh-caught bonito, we have several options most days for offering different baits to the fish.  The larger baits, I think, also are the reason we get more sailfish and marlin hook ups as we did this week with all fish being released.

For our Las Arenas fleet, it was also scratchy early-on with just a few dorado per boat, but pretty much all of them decent to monster bulls.  So, what we lacked in quality, we made up for in quantity.  However, later in the week the fish turned it up a notch and we not only got into dorado, but also had some wahoo hookups, some billfish hook ups and even a big 60 pound tuna found way outside.

The difference at Las Arenas, I believe, were the giant squid that finally came up out’ve the deep trenches.  We started catching these beasts, which not only make for great eating, but cut up in chunks are good for chumming up dorado around the buoys and chunking for tuna.  Hopefully, they’ll stick around.  Historically, when the big squid come up from the deep, the tuna often follow them up as well!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

dorado ziggy 7-13 tags

Yes, Ziggy! You finally made the first photo in the fishing report! Our amigo, Ziggy Haspod from Santa Barbara spanked the nice dorado all week fishing with Captain Boli and our La Paz fleet with limits every day including this sweet bull dorado.

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Best wahoo season in my memory in years! There’s still wahoo on the high spots around Cerralvo Island. Darryl and Kathy Pietek pose with Captain Armando and one of 2 skinnies they hooked. They lost another one that busted the Rapala off. The Pieteks are from Loma Rica CA.

marlin mario salazar tags 8-13

Sometimes, when you don’t try so hard, good things come to you! Mario Salazar from the Los Angeles area was on a billfish frenzy the 3 days he fished with our Las Arenas fleet. I think the final count was 8 marlin and sailfish in 3 days. I lost count. He was fishing with our Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet. This was a release so you get the great photo of him fighting the fish! Most of the billfish we’re hooking these days are all getting released.

richard sellers dorado tags 7-13

Richard Sellers came to visit us all the way from Australia to do some freediving and spearfishing. It started slow but by his last day he said, he had dorado and marlin swimming around him like he had never seen before. He did get this nice bull dorado and also another “mystery fish” none of us had ever seen before. Scroll down to the last photo in the report!

Steven with Dorado tags 7-13

Big smile from Steve Heune from Modesto CA was on his first fishing trip with us. As per my report this week, his first day, he fished with our Las Arenas fleet and they ran into one of those days when the fish were lockjawed. We switched them for their 2nd day to fish with our La Paz fleet and they stuffed the fish box with a limit of dorado!

Dane full pulling on marlin tags 7-13

Might be my favorite photo of the week. It’s all about smiles. Dane Fuller pulling on his first marlin ever. Dane’s from Childress, Texas and was on his first trip to La Paz where he got his first marlin, and first dorado…and biggest dorado. Just a great Kodak moment in Baja. It’s not about fish in the box, it’s about smiles on the face and good times with amigos.

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One of our favorites guys…Donnie “Coach” Rea from Ventura CA always does well fishing with us. He’s showing off another big bull he got this week fishing with our Captain Marcos and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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That’s alot of mahi! A thirty-pound-class dorado for Mike Figley from Arizona that he caught north of La Paz. There’s some nice big bulls around right now.

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Lance Heune from Modesto CA holds the gaff on a day when he put a nice limit of dorado on the boat in short order fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

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Late breaking news…just as I was putting together the fishing report Sunday night, our pangas hit giant Humboldt squid off Las Arenas. They made great bait for the dorado (and great eating!) and usually means that if they stay around, often the tuna rise up out’ve the trenches and follow them up! Hope they stick around. Captain Archangel hangs one of the big squirmers here!

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Our Australian amigo, Richard Sellers (photo above with the dorado) shot this while spearfishing. He called it a “triple tail” but none of my captains or anyone we knew had ever seen one. In almost 30 years fishing and diving here in Baja, I’d never seen one or heard of one so we ran to the books and internet. There are very few mentions of photos of them in Baja but folks from the Atlantic and Caribbean know all about them where they are much more common and, in Australia, of course! At first, I thought I knew what it is. But, it looked like a cross mutant between a pargo and cabrilla! The triple tail was good eating!

 

LAS ARENAS FISHING PICKY BUT OUR LA PAZ BOATS FIND GOOD ACTION ALL WEEK!

La  Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

It was a pretty decent week of fishing. Not the greatest, but not bad either.  Let me explain…

I have to say that I’m thankful we have our two fleets with one of them in La Paz and one of them at Las Arenas.  It gives our clients some choices about where to fish and we can also move them if necessary to get them the best conditions or to find fish.

As sometimes happens, weather or fishing dictates that sometimes one side will be better than the other.  It happens.  Normally, this time of year both our fleets are bendo and deep into all manners of fish.

However this past week, Las Arenas really sorta dropped off the fishing map.  Not one was it rougher from some long distance storms to the south that brought in some chop and swell, but there was a lack of bait.  Additionally, the better fishing was either outside at the buoys or all the way out at the 88 spot.

One the good side, the buoys held some decent dorado and the 88 produced more of those monster bull dorado and a number of hooks ups on striped marlin, sailfish and even a few big blues (all billfish either released or broke off).  But that’s a long way to run and if it was one of those bumpy days and you were one of the pangas that scratched, it’s a long long day.

Las Arenas just wasn’t happening.  The captains worked hard and busted humps looking for fish or trolling, but it was just one of those weeks.

But, like I said, thankfully, we had our La Paz fleet.  So, folks would try a day or two at Las Arenas then we’d have them switch over to our La Paz fleet.

And everyone got fish!  Limits or near limits of dorado from punk-sized schoolies to 30-plus pound bull mahi as well as some stripers and sailfish and even a few sharks hooked up.  The fish were well north so it was a bit of a ride and the bite was often late…well past 1 p.m. So, often I had to tell our clients, just be patient and let the captain fish.  Don’t jump the gun.  Sure enough…the late bite came in and there would be the feeding frenzy!

Sometimes our pangas weren’t coming back until 4 or 5 p.m., but that’s because our captains were working it hard.  We go out at 6 a.m. often several hours before the other fleets and my guys are willing to stay the extra hours to wait for the bite when other fleets are coming back at 1:30 or 2 p.m.  It made a difference and all of our clients this week still went home with full ice chests!

Bait as tough for our La Paz fleet as well, but going out extra early, we’re able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos then go look for some sardines.  Then go hook a few small bonito.  By the time you hit the fishing grounds, you’ve got 2 or 3 different types of bait aboard and gives you an edge.  Add in some trolling and now you’re cooking with gas!   But, as I said, we just had to tell folks “be patient.”  Our captains are all working hard to find the fish.  And we found them.  It was just later than normal!

MORE ON MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES

A few weeks ago, we started telling you about the big SNAFU with Mexico not printing out enough fishing licenses for the whole country.  Big Oops!  They’re trying to find a KINKO’s to handle it, but in the meantime, everyone is scrambling.

Baja still does not have any printed fishing licenses to sell.  They keep telling us “in a few weeks” but we’ve been hearing that for awhile.  In the meantime, the only way to have fishing licenses is still to purchase them online or find a tackle store there in the U.S. that sells them over-the-counter or online (some will mail them to you).  However, for southern Baja, they now have their own website to sell them that works pretty well.  Here’s the link:

http://apps.bcs.gob.mx/finanzas/finaweb/fonmar/

Just remember that the amounts are in pesos so divide the number by about 11 or 12 and you won’t have a heart attack!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

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

Kirk and ben rose wahoo 7-13 tags

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

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

Mike Figley tuna 54lb tags 7-13

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

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

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

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

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

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

smith sontag dorado 7-13 tags

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

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

SLOW START PICKS UP STEAM AS FULL MOON RECEDES

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

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

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

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

Some fishing suggestions if you’re headed down:

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

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

FISHING LICENSES

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

Here is the link:

https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in the whole of Mexico has to purchase their licenses online.  

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

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