Tailhunter Fish Report

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 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.”

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

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dog tooth snapper, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, freediving, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, rainbow runner, robalo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, spearfishing, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged 88, amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, bay of dreams, billfish, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dorado, el bajo, el sargento, Espirito Santo Island, fish, fishing, fishing guides, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing trips, fishing vacations, fishing video, flyfishing, free diving, holidays, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, la paz, la paz hotels, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, light tackle fishing, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, packages, panga, pargo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, sierra, spearfishing, sportfishing, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin, yellowtail on July 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

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

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

BIG DORADO BILLFISH

TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you’re coming down, a few tips…

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

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

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

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dog tooth snapper, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, rainbow runner, robalo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, squid, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia, bahia de los suenos, baja, Baja sur, billfish, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dorado, el sargento, espirto santo island, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing video, flyfishing, fubar cantina, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos bay, outfitters, packages, panga, pargo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, snapper, sportfishing, sportfishing packages, tailhunter international, tailhunter restaurant, tours, tuna, vacations, wahoo, yellowtail on July 14, 2013| 2 Comments »

We were worried that fishing would be slow after the storm passed, but fishing jumped right back in. Showing off a day’s catch with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, George Higi, Will Klem, George Higi III and Will Klem Sr. strike a great pose with their dorado!

tuna dorad marlin steve robert 7-13 tags

Yes! Those are yellowfin tuna on the sand here with Steve Moratto and Rob Barton from Santa Rosa CA who squeezed in one-day of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and had a super day with yellowfin tuna, dorado and a striped marlin that they tried to revive but were unsuccessful. The tuna popped up and were crashing for several days with all fish being about 10-20 pounders. It’s been awhile since the tuna have been this thick.

Allen Clarence Josh dorado big tags 7-13

I can’t get a straight answer from my Kansas amigos as to who actually caught this fish, but it’s a beauty. Allen, Clarence and Josh all posed with it and did some pretty good fishing over the week they were here.

From Diamond Bar CA, Bill Hsu has been a Tailhunter amigo for many years. But, everytime he comes down everyone else catches the wahoo except him. He made up for it with this one he caught with Captain Archangel off the south end of Cerralvo Island and also had another nice fish come unbuttoned.

“Happy Girl!” Becky Csutoras had the best fishing trip ever with big dorado and several marlin releases. Becky is an avid hunter and fisherperson and lives near Sacramento. Captain Joel from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps out!

Unfortunately, because of the storm, long-time Tailhunter amigo, Sam Sybesma, only got to fish one day, but made the most of it with some great dorado fishing out’ve La Paz. He was fishing with Jeff Klassen. Their video with Captain Chito is below all this week’s photos. Check it out!

He had the knack this past week for the big fish. Will Klem from El Segundo posted up a big bull dorado with Captain Armando from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet caught at the buoys.

He’s always got the big smile for his photos. Allen Burgess from Kansas caught and released this nice roosterfish while Captain Jorge drove the panga. They were fishing near the Arenas lighthouse.

Esteban Romero does his best vaquero cowboy look while standing with a nice bull dorado. Esteban is getting really good at getting into the fishing reports lately with some great fish. Several years ago, he didn’t even like fishing! Andale, amigo!

The photo isn’t very clear, but this is no doubt a big wahoo caught in the dim light of the early sunrise near Cerralvo Island by Stan Yung who was fishing with Captain Archangel. They hooked 3 wahoo this day but one got away.

dorado mini grande jimmy csutoras tags 7-13

Jimmy Csutoras and Captain Joel show off another of Jimmy’s big dorado for the week.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Jeff Klassen fishing with Sam Sybesma and Tailhunters’ Captain Chito, got this clip of them sticking a big bull:

STORM PASSES AND FISHING RECOVERS NICELY WITH BILLS DORADO WAHOO & TUNA!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2014

The week started nervously as we waited to see what Hurricane Erick would do and it’s aftermath. Up to then, fishing had been on the upswing and just our luck, Hurricane Erick sneaks up on us! Grrrr…

Well, as it turned out, the storm blow off the west side of of Baja and into the Pacific. Some of the southern areas got some rain and winds, but for the most part, here in La Paz, all we got were some clouds. However, the storm did send some really big swells and chop our way and in one of the rare occasions, we canceled one day of fishing.

It’s rare and we could have fished. But, we COULD have fished, but most of the fishermen had extra days to make up the day so there was no sense in sending out folks to be uncomfortable and get bounced around! It’s supposed to be fun right? And if they weren’t going to catch much fish, it seemed more logical to tell folks to hang at the pool and soak up some sunshine instead. So, that’s what everyone did.

But, the downside to that is we never know how it’s going to be AFTER a storm. I am always worried that the waters can be turned over and dirty or cold water moves in or the fish are just plain skittish!

Well, as it turned out, canceling the day was a good move!

The fish came back strong right out of the chute! We got right back into a pretty solid dorado bite for our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet with some nice 30-40 pound fish. La Paz had the better dorado bite out of the two areas with some nice patches of bull dorado. But, there were some hot spots out at the 88 east of Cerralvo and at the shark buoys off Las Arenas for the nicer bulls.

But, there were some great surprises…

Wahoo popped up on the south end of Cerralvo and we had some biters each day. Dark Rapalas and Yo-Zuris trolled over the high spots were the ticket but also strangely mackerel-colored patterns also worked.

Additionally, hey…we finally got tuna!!! Football tuna in the 10-20 pound class made for some great action not too far offshore Punta Perrico and Cerralvo Island. Some pangas took limits of the flashing footballs in short order. Several of our anglers said that slow trolling Cedar Plugs and dark feathers resulted in instant hook-ups. Hopefully, this bite is just the vanguard of us finally getting into a lengthy tuna bite as we didn’t have any tuna to speak-of, last season! Also, maybe the larger models will also show up!

The other fun even was the billfish. As one of our guys told me, “Jonathan, I’ve never seen anything like it! There were sailfish and marlin literally JUMPING out of the water around the panga!” There were several days here this past week where every one of our pangas hooked at least one billfish but somedays where some of the boats hooked 2-4 billfish! Most of the billfish were 60-120 pounds with some larger and almost all of them were released!

The fish are not very far offshore and I would recommend that anyone coming down bring some marlin feathers. One color that seems really hot is a green and yellow that looks like a small baby dorado because there’s a ton of baby dorado in the waters…little itty-bitty 10-inch dorado that are like candy for some of the larger fish and even the monster dorado are also chasing the babies! Food is food, I guess! But, if you want to troll, bring 2 dark colored feathers and 2 light colored lures.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 23-30, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dog tooth snapper, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dog-tooth, dorado, el sargento, Espirito Santo Island, family, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing video, flyfishing, holidays, hotels, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, roosters, sailfish, scuba, sea of cortez, sierra, snapper, snorkeling, spearfishing, spinning gear, tackle, tailhunter international, tours, tuna, vacations, yellowtail on June 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

He looks a little tired for good reason! Sherman McDonell from Rock Springs, Wyoming had an epic week of fishing even tho’ fishing was way off. It’s hard to argue with big fish like this dorado and with Captain Armando and armed with a spinning rod and reel and 17-30 pound test, he went hand-to-hand with big dorado and roosters fighting fish for long battles of 30 minutes to over an hour and coming back a happy bloody mess each day and a big grin! I don’t think he got a single fish under 45 pounds all week. He calls La Paz his “happy place.” Big grins from Captain Armando.

Young Dan Whittlesey from Washington just graduated from high school and came down with dad and grandpa. He toughed-out a really rough week of scattered fishing but did get this incredible bull dorado with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and Captain Victor holding up the tail.

From San Diego, Cole Chavira has been fishing our waters several times a year every single year since he was about 6 years old. He usually outfishes everyone around him and has been on these pages a zillion times! No exception here with this big rooster he caught and released off Las Arenas lighthouse.

It’s tough when you only have two hands and two big floppy heavy bull dorado, but Captain Armando helps Shelly McDonell with her catch after an epic big fish day at Las Arenas where she battled each of these fish on light tackle and spinning gear almost 2 hours each. Shelly rocks. She hunts and she fishes like crazy.

It’s always good when first-timers do well and even moreso when fishing is not that good like it was this past week. But Luke Brownlee from Green River, Wyoming put the wood to several big-time bull dorado like this one and the help of Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter fleet at Las Arenas.

When you come all the way from S. Africa and you have never ever been fishing, you make a great funny face when you land the biggest and first fish of your life like Jo Biddle holding a trophy dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos! Great shot!

Vegas in the house! Sandie Herrera really wanted a rooster and got hers here fishing off Las Arenas with Captain Pancho. The fish was released.

Great pose from Mitch Chavira, our San Diego amigo who was fishing north of La Paz when he stuck this dorado and got the great shot. There weren’t alot of fish this week and you really had to work it, but the fish that were hooked were generally all quality slugs!

Ron Burgess is our amigo who released that potential world record roosterfish last week. He fished with us the whole week and just was on fire! He also got his big dog-tooth snapper as well!

Norm Whittlesey has been fishing with us for many years. He hung in all week when fishing was really erratic but did manage this super dorado fishing with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Check out the colors! I think I want to frame this photo!

Jason Takayoshi was down on his first trip with us. His experience was typical of how our fishing has been this past week. His first day fishing out’ve Las Arenas, they got goosed-egged. Totally skunked. Not even a bite! And Jason is an experienced angler! But, he kept up the smiles. Next day..his last chance…he fished with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and ended up high-boat for the fleet with some big dorado as well and amberjack and multiple hook ups including fish on the iron. He’s posing with two of the big dorado here on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

Talk about a “gamer.” Kris Brownlee gets the award this week. Wow…rough water and seasick and she still hung in there and was not going to be deterred from fishing and kept smiling the whole time during the whole week! It was her first time to visit us in La Paz and she got some nice fish pulling on her like this hefty jack crevalle she caught and released with Captain Jorge.

Marie McClelland from Park City UT was another of our visitors on her first trip fishing with us and outfished lots of the regulars! She took this bull dorado north of La Paz fishing with Captain Alfredo.

Here’s a big boy rooster! Darryl Herrera and Captain Pancho hold up the kind of rooster that made our area famous! They caught this guy just off the beach at Las Arenas (you can see the sand in the background) and released it to fight another day. Darryl is from Las Vegas.

Charlie Detrick came down to see us from Washington and although he didn’t fare well his first day, he smoked the rods on some nice dorado the 2nd day like this sweet slug of a dorado he’s holding on the beach at Balandra!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Almost world-record rooster…Here’s a really well-produced video clip of Ron Burgess’ roosterfish he caught last week that might have been a new IGFA record. We will never know because he sportingly released it to fight another day! It’s not a long clip and well worth watching! Dave Lester, his amigo did a great job on it!

ERRATIC WEEK OF FISHING IS TOUGHEST OF SEASON

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 23-30, 2013

This past week might have been the toughest fishing week of the season. It was a difficult week on so many levels with erratic fishing and conditions that just seemed to make no sense.

We can only attribute it to a collision of the “perfect storm” of variables that all came crashing in on us…

1. Colder than normal waters brought on by late season winds turning waters murky and green. Sometimes the winds almost like “winter winds” and the waters are so green you can’t see through it. On the surface the water can be 80 degrees, but a few feet down it’s 65! We can often see fish all over, but they are just not interested in eating!

2. The “super moon.” Normally, the full moon is not a big concern for us. But, this past week, they billed it as the “SUPER MOON.” It was the largest, biggest, fullest full moon of several years. Resultingly we had incredibly low tides and strong currents. Combined with everything else, it hit us hard.

3. Hurricane COSME…it didn’t hit us and fortunately veered hundreds of miles off-shore. However, it did bring some big swell and waves from the south as well as some evening showers. This contributed to rough water conditions for a few days as well as adding more muck to the over-turned ocean that was already in bad shape.

So…that was it in a nutshell.

On a more pragmatic level, it meant lots of our amigos had some disappointing days fishing. Rough waters and no fish. Flat seas and green water. Seeing fish that didn’t want to bite. Unusual long runs to find blue water. YIKES!!!

This is the time of year when we should be and normally are slamming fish. Instead we were scrambling to find good water and fish that were interested in coming to the party.

On the upside, the fish were were hooking were BIG! Take a look at the photos! We didn’t catch many fish, but the fish were beasts! Big roosters and even bigger dorado were the rule rather than the exception. Roosters were routinely 30-50 pounds. Dorado…wow…few of them were SMALLER than 40 pounds. There were a few days where there wasn’t a dorado smaller than 45 pounds on the beach.

That created some problems of it’s own. There’s a reason fish get BIG! That’s because they are smart and tough. If we had CAUGHT as many fish as we hooked it would have surely been a better week. I mean, hey…when you come down and the biggest fish you might have caught in your life is a bass or a steelhead or a rainbow trout and suddenly you’re hooked up to the biggest fish of your life and you’re sweating and you’re now on a fish for 30 minutes…then 45 minutes…then an hour or more…in the hot sun…and you pull a little too hard…or your button down the drag…or you backlash the reel…

A 40 or 50-pound fish is not twice as strong as a 20 pound fish. It’s EXPONENTIALLY stronger! It’s a beast that EATS 20-pound fish for breakfast and takes it personally against you that you stuck a hook in his mouth! They are mean and they are pissed off and they growl. It’s not like they’re gonna let you you just pull them into the boat!

The fish is just asking to get lost!!!

Even many of our most veteran anglers were losing these big fish. And after you fight a fish that long, it’s often too late and you’ve drifted too far to find another hook-up. You get one chance at a huge fish and if that opportunity is lost…whether by angler error or simple bad luck…that’s it! You come back with nothing! We had folks fishing 1, 2, 3 days in a row with that kind of luck. Hooking several fish a day and losing the fish. Not much can be said. That’s just the way fishing was this past week.

The majority of the fish were big dorado and roosterfish, but we did have some amberjack, good numbers of jack crevalle, some marlin and sailfish (lost) and surprisingly a number of sharks pop up (and off!). Some of our catch might also have been a function of the bait we were using. Because of the conditions, bait did become a problem…especially finding sardines along the shallows. So, we used mackerel, ladyfish, small bonito, ballyhoo, small tuna, mullet and zebra fish as bait which were all effective.

Hopefully, better things this coming week even as you are reading this! As I write , conditions seem to be improving!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueV0ov9mAxY

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 17-23, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dog tooth snapper, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dog tooth snapper, dorado, el sargento, Espirito Santo Island, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing updates, fishing video, grouper, holidays, IGFA, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, packages, panga, pargo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of corrtez, sierra, tailhunter international, vacations, wahoo, world records, yellowfin, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail on June 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We will never know! Salute to Ron Burgess of Temecula CA. This fish might have been a new world record roosterfish! But he released this fish knowing it was a big boy plus he and his amigos released 28 other huge roosters! This fish might have broken the IGFA record 114 pounder set in 1960. Estimated weight by captains were 120-140 pounds. It took at least 45 minutes on 40 pound test and three guys to lift it in the panga and 3 to release it where it swam away “still pissed off!”

Another view of the big rooster just put in the boat. There were few photos as they wanted to get the fish back into the water as quickly as possible. Plus Ron couldn’t hold the massive fish up high enough to photo! Captain Loreto Green helps out. The fish was caught just off Punta Perico in shallow water using a big ladyfish for bait. Full story below.

Love the pose and attitude! She’s had a great vacation catching dorado and wahoo this week, but Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA show some game with her big bull dorado taken near Cerralvo Island. Uncle Roger holds up the fish with smiles!

Bob Jennessee and Kirt Schlander tags 6-13 dorado-proc

Kurt Schlander lends a hand to his amigo, first timer, Bob Jennessee and another big bull dorado from Las Arenas. Kurt has been with us several times. All the dorado were big this week. Not many, but they were big models!

One signal that the waters are still chillier than normal is that we’re still getting amberjack like this big toad fish that Dave Lester holds up! These are the big cousins to yellowtail. Great eating and can go over 100 pounds. We had one several weeks ago that might have just been short of the 155 pound world record.

“Did I really catch this?” Couldn’t be a cuter photo of our amiga, Jeanine Stenzel, from Nor. Cal who got into several ice sized dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. She’s holding the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Great colors!

Al Janc was fishing close to shore and got into it with another monster pez gallo roosterfish. I can’t remember a better rooster season than this one . Fish was released.

Mike Whitlow is a professional bass fisherman and specializes in using light tackle everytime he visits us from Washington. Mike got this fish north of La Paz. Fresh out’ve the water, the colors are incredible!

We got some really nice pargo this week like this hefty pargo…dog tooth snapper pulled out’ve the rocks near Las Arenas. Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet does the honors on the beach.

Lucky sunglasses for Captain Adolfo and Nancy Lerch with another big-time trophy dorado and big smiles. This was one of several.

Ryan and Ed Vander Veer tags dorado 6-13

Father, Ed Vander Veer from Washington and son, Ryan show off a great pair of bull dorado standing in the waters at Balandra Bay having fished north of La Paz where some waters are finally turning blue and sargasso patches are finally producing some dorado like these!

Everyone keeps asking if there’s tuna . Well, no one has really caught any yet this season but this slug 178 pounder was taken this week off the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island by one of the commercial captains. So, I guess there’s at least one tuna out there. However, following days produced nothing. But still exciting!

Our Captain Boli makes a funny face helping first-timer visitor, Jerry Pederson, from Washington with a nice mahi taken near Espirito Santo Island. We’re hopeful that the dorado bite continues to get better . The fish are having a late start this season.

Here’s another trophy mahi that Bob Benjamin caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob was visiting us for the first time and has big grins.

Making a great fashion statement…cool hat…cigar…billowing guide shirt! Total GQ! Xavier Lerch has a huge bull mahi dorado he caught with out Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet on one of the days where nothing was smaller than 30 pounds.

Hooray! La Paz finally has direct flights again from Los Angeles! This past week, Aero Mexico started flights from LAX to La Paz and will be flying on Sundays and Thursdays. We have not had direct flights for months!

Usually our amigo, Roger Thompson is a virtual poster child on the Tailhunter fishing report with big fish after big fish, but this is too funny! Everyone keeps asking if there are still yellowtail around. Well…uh…yea…LOL…Roger caught this guy all the way out on the 88! Great parting shot!

VIDEO of the WEEK!

Here is some video footage of our good amigo, Roy Stenzel’s first marlin that he caught this week. It’s great! Roy sent it to me and said, “Excuse me if at the end I squeal like a little girl!” The enthusiasm sure comes through. Proudly, hat’s off…he also released the fish! It’s short and fun. Take a look!

BIG WEEK FOR FEW FISH BUT BIG FISH INCLUDING AN ALMOST WORLD RECORD ROOSTERFISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-23, 2013

What a week of fishing! In all honesty, it was not a great week of fishing. Rather, it was a week of great fish! So many large fish this week. It was literally quality over quantity. We didn’t get a lot of fish, but the fish we got were really something to see including one fish that could have been a world record but we’ll never know!

The big rooster fish was caught by Ron Burgess of Temecula CA. Ron and his group of 4 fished 5 days and boated 28 rooster fish with nothing smaller than 50 pounds. Many of the fish were 70-90 pounds plus some hefty amberjack and dog tooth snapper. They released every single one of their rooster fish so bravo to them! Just an outstanding trip.

But, Ron’s fish was something to see. Ron battled the huge rooster right off the rocks near Punta Perico next to the famous Las Arenas lighthouse which is arguably part of the “roosterfish capital of the world” which extends down to the East Cape area as well. Las Arenas produced the world record 114-pounder in 1960 and Ron’s fish was estimated by several of our captains at “55-65 kilos” which would have bested the IGFA record by 10-20 pounds!

We will never know! Tailhunters has a certified IGFA scale, but Ron and his guys like true sportsmen released all of their huge rooster fish! Ron fought the fish for “better than 45 minutes” on 40 pound test using an 18-inch ladyfish for live bait. “I was a head shaker the whole time!”

It took three of them to heft the big fish as gently as possible into the panga and they tried to lip-gaff the fish with as little harm to the fish as possible. They got it in the boat; took some quick photos (which is why the photos aren’t that great and also because Ron simply could not lift the fish!) and then it took 3 of them to get it back in the water where it , “swam off strongly still pissed off” said Ron!

Ron said laughingly, “I was exhausted and beat up, but I picked up another bait and tossed it in and figured I’d rest, but another huge rooster grabbed it and I was hooked up again! What an idiot!”

This is the 2nd monster fish from our area that might have been an IGFA consideration as an amberjack estimated at 135 pounds caught by Kevin Takatani was taken just a few week ago but was cut up before it could be weighed. The IGFA record is 155 pounds. We’ll never know! But the legendary waters of La Paz and Las Arenas keep kicking out some super fish!

For the rest of the fishing, it was truthfully, hit-or-miss. Some pangas would do well while others nearby didn’t fare so well. Waters are still very turned over with warm water on the surface, but colder green water not too far below the surface. However, the fish that were caught were generally the larger models. Dorado “averaged” 20 to 40 pounds. Pargo “averaged” 30 pounds. Cabrilla “averaged 10 pounds.” Sure there were smaller fish, but overall, the fish were really bigger or pretty much nothing!

We did have some wahoo and marlin and sailfish hook-ups but overall, the warm water season is really taking it’s time to get going! Normally by this time of year, we are well into the billfish and dorado. Not so this year!

Part of the problem also is that the winds keep jumping up and pushing that cold water up and around and disturbing the water conditions. By now the winds should be long gone. It seems like things are getting better with more blue water showing up but too early to commit at this time.

But, bottom line, we’re having the best roostefish season in my 20 years here! For the last two months, La Paz had certainly been living up to it’s reputation for rooster fish. More fish and bigger roosters than we’ve ever seen!

MEXICO FLUBS FISHING LICENSES!

If you had not already heard, Mexico’s CONAPESCA committed a huge SNAFU! They failed to print out enough fishing licenses for the country and for vendors like Tailhunters to sell to their clients! That’s literally ha-zillions of licenses and lost revenue not to mention another shot-in-the-foot to the sportfishing and tourism industry making one more obstacle to come fishing!

Whereas normally, you could walk into our shop or office or most offices of outfitters in Mexico and purchase the blue tags, now one must go on line and struggle with the CONAPESCA website that often crashes and is highly unreliable. That, of course assumes that you have internet and have a printer so you can print it out! Many people still are not internet savvy or do not have online access or printers!

But, with patience, the system DOES work! Here is the link below plus a video describing how to do it:

You can purchase the online and it is important that you buy them before coming down. Here is the website: 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 southern Baja has to purchase their licenses this way!
Make sure you forward this to everyone in your party who is coming down or purchase the fishing licenses for them.

We found another option to the ridiculous frustration of trying to purchase fishing licenses online through the idiotic CONAPESCA Mexico website that keeps crashing!

My friend Tom Ward has a huge tackle shop in Orange Co. California and he has a stock of Mexican licenses on hand and sells them! He mails them back to your regular mail but processes them the same day he gets the request:

Here’s the info: http://www.thelongfin.com/mexican-fishing-license.html. Their phone is: 714-538-8010.

You can also get them from CONAPESCA San Diego, but must send a cashier’s check. They also process the same day. Here’s the link: http://www.conapescasandiego.org/. Their phone number is: 619-233-4324

So, unlike the Mexican CONAPESCA site, at least there’s a phone number to talk to someone who speaks English! Nuts that it is easier to purchase fishing licenses in someplace like California than in Mexico.

Landing in places like San Diego as well as many other local tackle stores, especially if you are in S. California have the licenses for sale or over the phone!

Hope that helps!!! Sorry for the craziness. We’re as frustrated as everyone else!

AERO MEXICO NOW DIRECT TO LA PAZ!

We also wanted to welcome Aero Mexico to La Paz. We finally have a new airline servicing our city! After many anticipated months, Aero Mexico started flying Sundays and Thursdays direct to La Paz from Los Angeles. Great for all of us!

That’s our story! Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International of La Paz for Week of May 5-12, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, Baja sur, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dorado, el sargento, Espirito Santo Island, extreme fishing, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, holidays, hotels, inshore fishing, jonathan roldan, kids, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, leisure, light tackle, light tackle fishing, live bait, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, packages, panga, panga fishing, pargo, pompano, reef fishing, rock fishing, roosterfish, sailfish, salt water, sea of cortez, sierra, sportfishing, tailhunter international, trips, tuna, vacations, wahoo on May 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Roosterfishing has been on fire this past week! Big fish and tremendous action! Check out Scott McGuire’s big rooster that he caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet while fishing with his son. They caught and released several big fish.

One of my favorites photos of the week…Al Rodriguez with one of his roosters. Great colors and the big smile is priceless! Nothing beats fishing for roosters on light tackle and check out how close to the beach he’s fishing! This fish was released as were all his roosters.

Definitely NOT a salmon! Kevin Kennedy came to visit us from Washington for the first time and got this gorgeous early season dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. With waters warming, we should be seeing more dorado.

Our frequent amigo, Dan McCormick from the Portland area, brought his son, Andrew down with him for the first time and they did especially well fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet knocking out a number of solid yellowtail, pargo, and this fat amberjack over several days!

Kevin Kennedy and I have been fishing amigos for many years, but I haven’t seen him visiting us in La Paz for a long time. He finally made it down and shows off one of the yellowtail he caught of Espirito Santo Island. The yellowtail are getting more scarce as the waters get warmer.

For everyone who asks all the time about our popular Capt. Pancho, he wraps himself up all the time with his hoodie, hat and bandana because he’s alergic to excessive sun which is hard for a panga captain in Baja! But he’s one of our best and probably more of us should follow his lead when it comes to sunburn! But check out this trophy rooster he got for Bob Coon just off the sand at Las Arenas near the lighthouse! The fish and others were released.

Big boy slugger roosterfish for my old amigo from Florida, JP Perkin, who I first met more than 20 years ago when he was running a famous tackle store on the pier in Santa Barbara CA before moving to Florida! Great fisherman! Nice rooster that got released.

What a great photo! Laurie Reynolds of Long Beach was out with our amigos, Roger and Donna Thompson, and they got into a fast and furious roosterfish bite at Boca de Alamo south of Bahia de los Muertos! I love the colors in this photo. Thanks, Roger! The ladies really did well this week!

When my amigo, Bill Kuhn, pulled this one up off Espirito Santo Island while fishing with our Captain Joel, we figured it was the biggest cabrilla we had ever seen, but on closer exam…it’s a grouper! Made for some great fat fillets! Bill lives in Laguna Beach CA.

All smiles…must be the cool sunglasses! Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Laurie Kennedy from Washington on her first visit to La Paz and her first rooster!

Couldn’t pass up this great photo of a school of manta rays passing by one of our fishing pangas in the blue water of the Sea of Cortez. Thanks for the photo, Kevin!

ROOSTERFISH PUT ON A SHOW AT LAS ARENAS! MAYBE BEST EVER…

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 5-12, 2013

We’ve have an incredible week of variety and one of the best weeks of rooster fishing that I can remember! I guess there’s a reason they call our area the “Roosterfish Capital of the World. ”

I was getting a bit worried about the roosterfish because normally by March or so we’ve got pretty decent biters and it’s fairly consistent by May. But up to about 3 weeks ago, it had only been hit-or-miss in that famous area near the Las Arenas lighthouse where the world record 114-pounder had been caught a number of years ago.

Roosterfish are one of the most prized and sought-after species in our area. Extremely exotic, anglers come from all over the world to get a shot at them with their fiery black racing stripes and iconic dorsal fins. These fish inhabit the pristine white sandy beaches and blue waters of the southern Baja and perhaps no more prolifically than in the 10 or so miles of beaches around Las Arenas and down towards the East Cape…but especially the lighthouse.

These fish can be found in waters that are only a few feet deep and are known to tear up the bait schools of sardines and mullet that come into these areas at this time of year. The fish can be school-sized 5-10 pounders but 10-40 pounders are not uncommon and an incredible sport for flyfishers and light tackle anglers.

The fish this week have stormed the beaches with our pangas getting 2, 4, 8 or more roosterfish per day with fish in the 20-60 pound class and some larger getting away! Many anglers are getting their first ever plus more. Others are getting their personal best largest roosters! These are hard-charging members of the jack family and often the pangas have to chase the fish up and down the beach to keep up with them!

As a bonus in the same areas, there’s some monster jack crevalle, also known for their tenacity and known as “toros” in Spanish which appropriately means “bull.” As well, there is another member of the jack family in these same areas which are the African pompano. The great thing about the pompano is that they make for incredible eating whereas the jack crevalle and roosterfish taste terribly with their black/ red stringy meat and almost all those fish get released.

In other action, the reefs and rocks are producing good action on cabrilla (sea bass), pargo (several varieties up to 20 pounds) plus some big amberjack up to 40 pounds and sierra. Yellowtail continue to hit, but sporadically. The best spot is now north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island. Waters are warming and we expect the yellowtail will continue to diminish and more blue-water species like dorado moving in. I’m seeing more sargasso around the channels and the influx of the floating seaweed is a good sign that dorado will also be arriving soon. So far, we’ve had some dorado already in but we’re waiting for the main body to show up!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 28-May 5, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, dorado, Espirito Santo Island, fish, fishing, fishing lessons, fishing reports, fishing tips, fishing trips, flyfishing, holidays, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, panga, pargo, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, sierra, tailhunter international, techniques, tuna, vacations, wahoo, yellowtail on May 5, 2013| 2 Comments »

We’ve finally had a good appearance of roosterfish, the kind that made Las Arenas the “roosterfish capital of the world.” The fish have been 10-50 pounders and right near the beach. Check out Leif Dover’s big pez gallo taken right off the sand near the Arenas lighthouse. Leif got several of these and released all of them. We encourage releasing the roosters…great exotic fighters, but don’t taste very good and most guys voluntarily are voluntarily releasing them although you’re allowed to keep them. It’s good to see them getting released.

Super photo of another member of the jack family…related to yellowtail, amberjack, jack crevalle…this big pompano was hooked by our amigo of many years, JP Perkin, who used to own a famous tackle store on the Santa Barbar pier in California but now lives in Florida and came to spend a few weeks in La Paz with us. These make incredible eating…and especially sashime! Almost better than yellowtail!

Yellowtail still biting, especially north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island. They’re diminishing as the waters are warming but some of the one’s we’re getting are still 20-40 pound fish like this nice one that Wayne and Captain Rogelio are showing off here.

Jerry Sylvia holds the tail gaff on another sweet-sized pompano. The fish have moved in the last few weeks but I can’t remember seeing so many larger ones caught as we have this year. Jerry came to visit us from Santa Barbara CA

This is the time of year…late spring…when these big slugs show up. The Mexican name for them is “Pez Fuerte” (amberjack). They are horses and they are the bigger cousins of yellowtail and roosterfish and THEY TASTE GREAT!!! These fish get up over 100 pounds. Leif Dover had a pretty epic week on these all the way from Georgia. This big guy was probably over 50 pounds!

WARM AND COLD WATER SPECIES MIX IT UP FOR THE WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 28- May 5, 2013

It wasn’t a bad week of fishing, but it was’t a great week of fishing either. There was certainly a lot of action in terms of getting rods bent, but just not a lot of quality fish that came up. But, also some of that had to do with the type of fish that were getting hooked as well.

Like I said, there was some fairly decent action as we had good numbers of pargo, cabrilla, sierra, pompano and bonito ripping around. Great great fun on light tackle. Some dorado were also showing up to 25 pounds. And there’s rooster fish up to 40 pounds plus jack crevalle in the same area. So, some great varieties!

But, in terms of quality, we just didn’t see much. But then again, the “quality” fish were the type that have a lot going for them…like ROCKS!

We did get yellowtail again. Fewer, but many of those busted guys off in the rocks, but we still showed some in the 20-30 pound class. The best area has been the east side of Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz. That’s an area where there’s still a big body of cooler water according to the satellite images of the water temperatures. As well, their bruiser cousins, the amberjack also made a great showing with fish up to 60 pounds, but again, it’s a lot harder to put a 60 pound fish in the boat than a 10 pound fish and although guys were hooking them, they mostly broke off. Same for the larger pargo and cabrilla. If you can’t get them out’ve the rocks, the overall fish counts don’t look very good. Good fishing. Bad catching.

Waters are in that transition mode and passing through a warming phase so we’re expecting to go from cooler water to warmer water species any week now. There’s some good fingers of warm water and sargasso is starting to build up in the channels which bodes well for dorado season coming up!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

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

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged Baja sur, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charters, el sargento, Espirito Santo Island, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing videos, hotels, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, marlin, mexican baja, Mexico, outfitters, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sailfish, sea of cortez, sierra, sportfishing, tailhunter international, tuna, vacations, wahoo, yellowfin, yellowtail on April 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Despite warming waters, there’s still some yellowtail around especially around Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz where Bill Fong from the Sacramento area go this hefty forktail.

We have taken more wahoo in the last 2 months than we’ve taken in the last two years! First timer and fishing only ONE day, Randy got these two 20-30 pound class wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

DENNIS FUJII TAGS YELLOWTAIL ALFREDO 4-13

These are what we all “firecracker yellowtail.” There seems to be nice schools of this fun-sized ‘tails in various places available to both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. Dennis Fujii and Captain Alfredo pose with a nice schoolie.

Another of our Canadian friends, Faron Kilber, poses with the nice-grade of cabrilla that are biting in the rocky areas right now. Our largest this week was about a 25-pound pig!

WATERS WARMING BRINGS FISHING VARIETY

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 21-28, 2013

It was an up-and-down week of fishing with more of those pesky winds some days and then flat calm waters in between plus maybe a tad of full-moon thrown in. Most days, however, were gorgeous, but big swells generated from the south still made it a bit bumpy even with other conditions were super.

The result was a week of fishing as variable as the weather. Again, it’s “transition” time between colder and warmer fishing seasons so we had changes in water plus about that many different types of fish as well.

One day all the fish seemed to be inshore fish. The next day the off-shore fish were lock jawed and only the blue water species bit. Other days it was a mad mix of a little of this…a little of that. I counted 15 different species of fish caught last week between our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

With the offshore stuff, we again got into a few wahoo that were in the 20-40 pound class and a few large tuna were hooked (and lost) that were estimated in the 60-80 pound category. As well, we’re starting to see a few billfish again and several were hooked (and also lost on light tackle, but a nice thrill just the same for a while when they were hooked).

Inshore, there’s been a lot of activity. Pargo continue to torment the anglers with only about 2 or 3 put in the boat for every 10 hooked. That’s just the way it is! These are tough exciting fish, but their first move is right to the rocks so they have the “edge” in more ways than one! If you look our our daily scores, in fact, it seems like fishing has really been bad some days, but then talking to the captains or the clients, you find out they lost 2, 3, 4…6 fish to breakoffs or errors!

Same for the yellowtail. There’s still some nice YT’s around, but not as much as last month as we are no transitioning to warmer water conditions. The size has also varied. We’re getting some as small as 5 pound firecracker yellowtail up to about 30-40 pound sluggers. Best areas are around the islands especially northern Cerralvo and the west side of Espirito Santo Island.

In those same areas, we’ve been hooking some really nice fat cabrilla (Mexican sea bass) up to about 25 pounds and even some small grouper.

Along the beaches, we saw an increase in the number of hooked rooster fish and jack crevalle running up to about 30 pounds and the waters are still cool enough for the guys to be hooking a handful of sierra each day, not counting the bite-offs.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 7-14, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, pompano, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, bonito, cabrilla, Cerralvo, charters, dog tooth snapper, el sargento, espirito santo, fish, fishing, fishing report, fishing schools, fishing technique, fishing tips, fishing trips, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, Mexican, Mexico, muertos bay, outfitters, panga, pargo, punta perico, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra, sportfishing, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, vacation, vacations, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail on April 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Good amigo, Steve Hartsook, from N. California has been visiting us for years and came down earlier this year than normal finally getting into some nice yellowtail fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet despite some pesky winds.

Retired Sherriff’s officer, Verda Boyd, usually comes with her husband, Tim, in December and the way the winds blew this week, it might’ve been about that cold! But Verda came without Tim for some yellowtail fishing and produced this hefty forkie fishing off Espirito Santo Island with Captain Joel.

Big red pargo lisos (mullet snapper) for Kwame Satterfield who was visiting us from Antioch, CA. The double catch was taken while Kwame was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. He’s posing here at Bahia de Los Muertos. The big snapper/pargo are schooling in the shallows right now.

We just started getting some good roosterfishing the last week or two and most of them have been quality pez gallos. Jeff Brown from Minnesota caught and released this beauty off Espirito Santo Island. There have been some good schools showing up with some nice quality fish to start the season.

Happy smiles from Yolanda Wheeler. Her first time ever on the ocean…first time ever fishing on the ocean…and her first fish on the ocean…a nice dorado! She was so excited she was jumping up and down in the panga! One of our first dorado of the season also!

Far from home, but always welcome, Rod Brown visits us several times a year from distant Wrangell, Alaska! He always does well. Maybe two of the last yellowtail of the changing season, Rod’s posing with Captain Joel from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Jackson, Mississippi in the house! Randall Carrier came a long way to visit us on his first trip and it paid off (just before the winds kicked up) with this nice wahoo on his first day and first day ever! The wahoo was stuck at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

Chuck Fiola Cal Lambert tags pargo sierra 4-13

Two of our newest amigos, Chuck Fiola from Washington and Cal Lambert from Colorado have an nice rack of pargo and sierra they caught while fishing off Las Arenas with us last week.

Bob Patterson dog tooth pargo tags 4-13-proc

Nice dog-tooth snapper aka “cubera snapper” or “pargo perro”, in the hands of Bob Patterson.

PARTING SHOT! When fishing is already tough, don’t complicate it! Our resident amigo and fishing champ had a tough day…then found out later that “someone” had put bananas aboard! This was the only fish caught on the panga all day! For those who don’t know…bananas are bad luck!

STRONG WINDS BLOW APART THE BITE !

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 7-14, 2013

After such a spectacular week two weeks ago, Mother Nature kicked up again to remind us that there are some things we still can’t control and we really had a difficult week of fishing. The bugaboo winds that really determine all things down here howled and blew demonically and either damped the fishing or outright, kept our anglers off the water.

It’s too bad because we were really charging into (what I thought!) was high gear.The previous week we had our first big tunas…the best wahoo bite in severe seasons…big rooster fish show up…first dorado of the season…big pargo and cabrilla finally kick in…some solid yellowtail still biting…we were kicking up our heels and ready to charge!

And then this week came on. As they say…”in like a lion.” The winds roared.

Actually, our weather seemed to reflect what much of the west to middle of the U.S. and Canada got…cold temperatures, high winds… One day we just brought all the boats back to shore. Another day we just “suggested” it might not be so good to go out and told everyone to just stay back on the beach rather than get beat up (they had other extra days to make up the missed day). Two of the rare occasions when we maybe could have gone out, but why? Go out and get beat and wet? It’s supposed to be fun.

On a few other days, it was just too rough to even get bait or get to the fishing areas. So, this resulted in really slow fishing. So, that was pretty much the story of the week.

When we did get out, we did get a few yellowtail, some dorado. Some sierra. Some nice rooster fish were also caught. We did get two marlin hooked and dropped. As well, some pargo were taken. But, I need to be honest…it was a stinky week. We’ve had better.

The good thing about fishing the Baja…it doesn’t stay bad for long. We should turn the corner again…probably by the time you’re reading this.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website:

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 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.”

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of March 24-31, 2013

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, panga, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged bahia de los muertos, bahia de los suenos, baja, cabrilla, Cerralvo, El bajo seamount, el sargento, fish, fishing, fishing reports, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing trips, jonathan roldan, La Ventana, Las Arenas, Mexican, Mexico, outfitters, packages, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing, tailhunter international, vacations, yellowtail on April 1, 2013| 1 Comment »

Down from the S.F. bay area, brothers Glenn and Richard Chun fished a pretty much a whole week with us in that hot spot north of La Paz and found out how tough these yellowtail are losing quite a few fish, but having a blast taking 5-7 yellowtail each day.

Nothing better than a kid with a big smile holding big fish! Even the kids got into it this week for the thrill!

Even the La Ventana guys were in on the great bite especially since Cerralvo Island is right across the channel! Famous Capt. Fabio poses with some amigos and a nice rack of fish! (Thanks for the shot, Hawk!)

This surely is not a salmon! Rena Hunley lives along the Columbia River in Oregon and fished with us for the first time getting in on some of the big yellowtail like this one that she hefts on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Big big slug of a yellowtail! Just off Cerralvo Island, Scott Johnson from the Dalles in Oregon stuck this beautiful yellowtail on a live mackerel.

With Tailhunter International for the first time, Greg Hunley, fished two days with us taking solid numbers of yellowtail in the middle of the big bite taking place off Cerralvo Island.

FULL MOON PRODUCES MAYBE BEST YELLOWTAIL OF SEASON!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 24-31, 2013

What full moon? Yea…I was worried…but…

This has perhaps been the best yellowtail fishing of the year and maybe the best week that many of us can remember in a long time!

Both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet got into fish with some nice quality slugger fish running 20-40 pounds as waters cleared up in all spots, especially north of Espiritu Santo Island where the waters had been green and cold for awhile…plus windy…and now things have opened up nicely!

The pangas are getting 4-10 big fish each but…LOSING…just as many! Here’s the kind of comments I’m getting:

“Man, these fish are way stronger than salmon!”

“I can’t believe how hard these fish can pull. If you don’t turn their heads forget it. You can’t just hold the bent rod and wait for them to get tired! You’ll lose ’em every time!”

“I lost 4 on the iron until I figured out what I was doing wrong and finally started to listen to my captain who showed me that I can’t stop turning the handle. They hit like a freight train!”

For our Las Arenas pangas, the hot spot is still that NE side of Cerralvo Island by the backside. It’s solid with bait and fish and one of my captains counted more than 30 fishing boats out there one day including sporty’s, private boats, cruisers from the East Cape and commercial guys. The good thing was that it looked like everyone was bit! Mackerel and iron worked best!

For our La Paz anglers, the run to El Bajo…probably the most northern spot we’ll get to for daily fishing is the seamount north of Espirito Santo Island and the place almost exploded with fish. We had some guys cancel their 2nd days of fishing because they got too many fish the first day and were just whupped! But these fish are horses coming up off the edge in deeper cold water…grabbing baits and irons…then turbo jet back straight down! Most of these fish were short fat thick guys with big shoulders and bad attitudes!

The key right now is if this will continue. As I’m writing this, the advisories show that the winds will be kicking back up again this week. We’ll have to keep an eye out.

Also, totally ignored because of the yellowtail, but outside there’s some big dorado to be caught and inshore, cabrilla, pargo and sierra as well as roosters are running around!

P.S. As I am writing this on Sunday night a little story…we had 6 pangas out today. 4 pangas got into fish except two. BOTH PANGAS HAD BANANAS ABOARD!!! They lost yellowtail and big pargo!

NEW AIRLINES FOR LA PAZ…FINALLY!

After months of speculation and many promises, Aero Mexico has finally announced its new routes to La Paz flying directly from Los Angeles. As of April 6th, Alaska Airlines terminates it’s flights to La Paz, but Aero Mexico has stepped into the gap. However, flights don’t begin until June 20th from Los Angeles. But this is still good news. As of now, flights from LAX to La Paz will be on Sundays and Thursdays!

That’s our story! Happy Easter and God bless!

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

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.”