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Posts Tagged ‘flyfishing’

yellowtail art debbie tags 3-13

Great way to start your fishing vacation! Dr. Art Flippin usually spends his days in sub-zero weather working around the Arctic Circle! So, donning shorts and Hawaiian shirts is a welcome treat! He and his Debbie Divine kicked off their vaction by jumping on some fat yellowtail near Cerralvo Island as well as a few tasty cabrilla off the reef! They’re posing here on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Jorge jig gaff yellowtail tags 3-13

Our amigo, and former La Paz fishing champ shows hows it’s done as he does it all by himself! He hooks and fights the fish…hangs the fish…then gaffs it and brings it aboard Superman-style! We recommend you let our captains help you, but Jorge is a super-star! This is the back-side of Cerralvo Island. Not the big dorado-colored jig in the fish’s mouth and the flat waters close to shore!

Flippin yellowtail 3 tags 3-13

Art spent a few days on the water with us and shows off another nice fat yellowtail near the north point of Cerralvo. Check out the guy in the background on the bow of another panga…totally bent on another big yellowtail!

yellowtail to gaff tags 3-13 flippin

Nothing quite like seeing a fish come to gaff after a long battle! Looks like another yellowtail is gonna get put in the box!

Adam Toeniskoetter yellowtail tags 3-13

Adam Toeniskoetter and his dad came down to visit us from Northern California for the first time and had 3 banner days of yellowtail fishing before the winds kicked up again mid-week. Adam poses with a hefty yellowtail.

Yellowtail jigs

Handy to have! I’m getting alot of questions from guys asking what colors of lures/ iron they should bring down this time of year if the yellowtail are biting or if the bait gets scarce. Here’s a few samples I pulled from my own tackle box to show. They’re a little nicked and dinged and scraped, but that’s because they’ve been BIT!

photo

Just thought I’d throw this in. Chuck Toeniskoetter kindly sent me this photo of Steve Jobs new yacht that’s been parked in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz. This is what 140 million bucks can buy you. One amigo joked that it kinda looks like a floating iPod. It’s not the prettiest watercraft ever! But I bet if you get close enough you get free wi-fi signals! It’s probably hard to fish from!

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If you ever wondered…yes, whales do smile! The grey whales seemed to staying around a bit longer than usual this year and our visitors had a great time with them this week getting about as close to the mom’s and calves as you could get and rubbing noses! Thanks to Debbie Divine for this photo. We’re still running daily trips to Mag Bag as long as the whales stay around!

Salt Lake City-20120318-00232

Salt Lake City you were great to us! Thanks for all the hospitality and the fantastic time at the ISE show in Sandy UT! After 3 months on the road, Jill and I finally wrap up our Tailhunter Road tour and will be in San Diego starting Wednesday to Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the Fred Hall Fishing Show! Then we head home finally to La Paz!

YELLOWTAIL SLAM MACKEREL AND IRON JIGS BACKSIDE OF CERRALVO ISLAND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week for March 10-17, 2013

It’s a good thing we didn’t have any fishing clients early in the week as the northern winds kicked in again and pretty much made it impossible to fish so just as well!  However, mid-week winds kicked down a notch and like clockwork, up came the bait and so did the big horse yellowtail that have taken up residence around Cerralvo Island.

Again, a good grade of 20-40 pound fish were the norm.  Mackerel worked as the hot ticket, but for guys who knew how to work the iron, especially blue and white, yellow and green and scrambled egg patterns the fish were more than cooperative and produced some of the larger fish.   Pangas averaged about 3-8 yellowtail each with almost as many tougher fish lost in the rocks or simply busted off…which is part of the fun.

Late in the week, it’s important to note that the mackerel did get harder to locate.  That’s not a good sign.  So, we’re keeping an eye on that.

We’ve had a great yellowtail season the last 5 weeks or so, but that was dependent on the mackerel being around.  As the mackerel go so do the yellowtail so we hope the mackies don’t go…just yet!  But that means that we had to work harder to get the fish especially using iron so one of those rare times when artificials are preferred over live bait simply because the live bait was hard to find, those angler who knew how to use throwing and yo-yo iron were at an advantage.  The basic technique simply means dropping the lure overboard and winding like your arm is falling off as fast as you can go!  The faster you crank the better the chance of getting a big yellowtail to slam the lure.  It also means that when you do have the mackerel, every one has to count!  No wasting bait!  Be on your “A” game!  Yellowtail don’t “nibble!”   The INHALE and head back to the rocks!   Big 40-pound fish don’t hesitate and they’ll slam into the baits and if you’re not ready, you miss your chances!

As for other species, the focus has been so intense for the last month on the big yellowtail that the other species common to this time of year are almost being ignored.  Yes, there’s pargo liso in the shallows as the big mutton snapper are in the shallows for their annual spawn.  There’s also cabrilla and sierra as well in the shallows and rocky areas plus we’re seeing more roosters as the weeks go on as well.

TAILHUNTER TOUR 2013 WINDS IT UP IN SAN DIEGO THIS WEEK!

San Diego-20120321-00243

After 3 months and almost 15,000 miles of driving, the 2013 Tailhunter Road Tour winds it up this week with our 10th and final show.  We’re back on the beautiful Pacific Ocean in S. California in San Diego at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.  We’re in the booth from Wednesday to Sunday at the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show.  This is always a fun show and it’s good to be back in the sunshine and on home turf!  Come say hi and let’s talk about your 2013 La Paz fishing vacation!  For more details, check out the link:  http://www.fredhall.com/pages/san_diego/sdticketInfo.php

Have a great week everyone!

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: 

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.”

 

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yellowtail fabio tags 3-13

Big horse toad slugger yellowtail still running hard and strong around Cerralvo Island. Fabio shows a head shot on another big guy. If the winds are down the fish come to chew! (Thanks for the photo Hawk!)

yellowtail 3-13 ventana

Earlier in the week when the winds let us, this is the kind of world-class yellowtail fishing we were doing with 3-8 yellowtail per panga in the 20-40 pound class. As the winds increased over the week, the bite got a little pickier, but we still got into the fish! Mackerel, sardines, Rapala-type lures and yo-yo iron all worked!

Judy JR Caroline Jilly-proc

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic week at the Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show! It was the best week we’d ever had in all these years and the best part was seeing so many of our amigos and amigas who stopped by to visit including Judy and Caroline from Western Outdoor News who work with us during the November Tuna Jackpot Tournament Cabo. Jill and I wanted to say thanks to everyone! Nothing like being home in S.Cal! “Fish Hard….Party Harder!”  Now we head to another of our favorite places…the ISE Show in Salt Lake City at the Southtowne Expo Center in Sandy UT.  Show is Thursday to Sunday!

WIND DOWN YELLOWTAIL UP!

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

All-in-all, a pretty solid week of fishing with more yellowtail all week.   It wasn’t completely wind-free, but enough so that we could get into the yellowtail whch were again, horses!   Mostly the fishing centered around Cerralvo Island with some thick 20-40 pound fish coming up on the mackerel, sardines and especially the iron with blue/white…green/yellow…and scrambled egg patterns working the best!  Some of these fish were horses and as many fish were lost as were caught!

When folks got into the mackerel schools, especially, things could get wild as we had several stories of anglers jigging on their light tackle and getting slammed by big yellowtail and having their hands full…much to the entertainment of their fishing partners!   However, it wasn’t uncommon for the pangas to nail 4, 5, 6, or more of these big yellowtail each day!

Winds were great early in the week which corresponded with the best bite then increased as the week went on, especially in the afternoon and by the weekend they were back up to speed and the bite, consequently diminished.  That’s the biggest problem is the winds.  Winds up and the the fish are more difficult.  This coming week the predictions show that the winds start diminishing about Thursday so hopefully, we’ll get back into the thick of it!

Also, as a side note…yes! There are pargo and cabrilla running.  In fact, the pargo are up and thick in the shallows as this is spawning time.  However, everyone is concentrated on the yellowtail which are easier to stop than the big pargo which are embedded in the rocks!  But yea..the big red guys are there with the big seabass!

TAILHUNTER TOUR HEADS NORTH TO SALT LAKE CITY

Thanks, for the great visit, Long Beach!  We're headed to Salt Lake City now for the ISE show!

Thanks, for the great visit, Long Beach! We’re headed to Salt Lake City now for the ISE show!

We just wrapped up the best and busiest show of the season.  We spent 5 incredible days at the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center where it was just packed every single day.  Jill and I are hoarse from hours-and-hours of talking and seeing so many of our amigos and clients plus meeting new ones.  Lots of bookings too and we’re jazzed so many of you are coming back to visit us this year in La Paz!

Also, thanks to everyone who stopped by with wishes and goodies for my birthday!  Wow…it was like 5 days of Christmas and often it seemed like there was a bigger party in back of the counter than in front of the counter!  We had a grand time and we surely appreciated all the visits, the gifts…THE FOOD!!!  We ate non-stop from day 1 to 5!

We’re now on the road to Salt Lake City to the Southtowne Expo Center in Sandy UT for the International Sportsmens Expo.  It runs Thursday to Sunday and is always a blast. That’s March 14-17th!   We always enjoy being in Salt Lake City and seeing our friends.  So, come by the booth and say hi and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz this year!  Here’s info on the show if you need details or tickets:  http://www.sportsexpos.com/

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: 

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.” 

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yellowtail jig tags 2-13

Once the winter winds back off, the big fish bit back hard with big fat yellowtail like this one stuck on iron off Cerralvo Island. The only thing is that the winds took their sweet time to back down and we didn’t get into fish until late in the week.

yellowtail brian oneill tags 2-13

Another fish hung on the blue and whit iron! Take a look at the quality of this 40 pound class yellowtail that Brian O’Neil hung fishing a long week with us with our Las Arenas Fleet. Brian is from Atlanta GA.

yellowtail gerardo tags 2-13

The client didn’t want their photo taken so Captain Gerardo of our Las Arenas fleet took the pose with another fat forktail taken off the island.

cougar JR edit

Thanks for the great time and great show, Boise! One of our best shows of the season! And now…here we come, LONG BEACH FRED HALL SHOW! This is the grand daddy of shows! It’s one of the largest on the west coast and kicks it off Wednesday to Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center!

WINDS BLOW AND KEEP US OFF THE WATER UNTIL LATE IN WEEK!

La Paz / Las Arenas fishing Report for Week of Feb. 24 to March 3, 2013

Compared to the previous week, this past week was a complete disappointment for the most part.  A week ago the winds gave us a break and laid down and the yellowtail went on a major feed along with dorado, marlin and sailfish.  Well, this past week, the winds were pretty unforgiving.  It was like Mother Nature was making up for being nice to us or reminding us that this is still winter.   So, she ripped  us pretty much all week!

But…on the good side, we didn’t have many fishermen either, so let the wind blow!  No harm. No foul.

However, as the weekend came up, the winds ran out’ve some of their steam and sure enough, it was enough of a window for the fish to come back up.  Yellowtail once, more came on the chew with fish in the 20-40 pound class around Cerralvo Island and south of Bahia de Los Muertos.  Our pangas averaged 4-8 yellowtail each in the boat with others lost to the rocks or inexperience.  Additionally, there were cabrilla and smaller pargo taken as well.  The fish were eating mackerel, sardines and willing to eat the yo-yo iron as well.

We just had one of the best shows of the 2013 tour season wrapping up our show at the Idaho Sportmans Show at the Idaho Fairgrounds in Boise!  Great to see so many of our amigos and talk to all the new folks.  We booked lots of trips for this year and excited about seeing everyone . Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi.  Boise is one of our favorite stops along the way!

LAST CALL CABIN FEVER CLASSIC

Last call for our 13th Annual Cabin Fever Classic Event.  We’re gonna have it April 10-15th in La Paz and it’s the only personally escorted trip we do and it’s always great fun with super friends, great food…and even some fish!  It’s 3 days of fishing and a day of snorkeling at the island plus lots of extras.  For more information, e-mail us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com.  There’s just a few spots left!

WE’RE HEADED TO LONG BEACH FOR THE BIG SHOW!

But now…the Tailhunter 2013 Road Tour heads to the BIG SHOW!  The Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center.  This is probably the biggest show on the west coast with hundreds of vendors…tons of fishing and outdoor gear…seminars by the best in the industry…boats…travel…hunting…vacations…FIVE MASSIVE DAYS of craziness!  It starts Wednesday and goest to Sunday.  Comes see us and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz!  We’ll be in our booth in our usual spot next to Izorline and Whopper Stopper Rods on the main tackle row.  See ya there!

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: 

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.”

 

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Hawk Yellowtai 1-proc

Our good friend, “Hawk” Davis, was able to sqeeze out some days on the fishing grounds in between wind to get in on the yellowtail bite we got this week!

whaleswdennis 410-proc

Whale watching in Bahia Magdalena is going on full-swing right now in the bay’s shallow warm waters where the grey whales spend the winter. It’s a great experience and we’ll be running trips through March! Ask us!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We just finished our 4th Tailhunter Show of the season at the Portland Expo Center for a great show where thouands of folks showed up for one of the largest fishing and hunting shows on the west coast! We talked to hundreds of folks each day and got great visits from so many local friends like Amy and Belmond Mann who brought the family to say hi to us! This week we head to the Yakima Sun Dome in Yakima WA for the 24th Annual Central Washington Sportsmans Show from Feb. 15-17th. Come say hi and talk to us about your 2013 La Paz fishing trip!

YELLOWTAIL HIGHLIGHT WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 3-10, 2013

Late week, winds finally settled down enough to make it comfortable to fish.  Earlier during the week, seasonal winds made it just too crazy for us to really put folks out on the water.  Many folks this time of year, aren’t hardcore anglers and are often folks just in town looking for a day on the water so it’s often best just to just keep an eye on the weather so that we can put them out when it’s calmest and they can enjoy themselves and get some action.  Honest, though, it it weren’t for the winds, it’s really pretty nice in La Paz with daytime temps in the mid-70’s and being in town is really enjoyable right now.  Oh, and carnaval started this week too so town is hopping and it goes on through next week!

Anyway, time on the water was productive with a nice variety of fish and some solid action.

The appearance of yellowtail again was the most welcome part of the bite.  These were some nice fish that ran 15-35 pounds!  Real slugger toads with maybe even some larger fish breaking off as they often head right back to structure and the rocks.  As I mentioned, many folks aren’t big time anglers, and when some of these freight trains hit, you don’t get a second chance to figure out what to do or make mistakes.

This is the same for the larger cabrilla as well as the pargo.  First thing they want to do is head for home in the rocks and that’s often not very deep.  So, there’s not much margin for error.  When a huge pargo, hits if you’re still fiddling with which way on the fishing rod is up, you’re toast!  I mean, that’s part of the fun.  But, it’s not like a tuna or dorado which might have a hundred feet or so of water beneath it to run or wants to rip off 300 yards of line on the uptake.  Yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla and other “rock fish” can often be in water that’s only 10 feet deep and dotted with reef and rocks!  So any hesitation and the fish simply busts you off!

So, often counts would be better except that fish are getting lost.

That being said, we did get some nice yellowtail mixed with smaller cabrilla, pargo, sierra along the beaches and good numbers of bonito which provide great action.

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: 

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.” 

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AMY ASHLEY DORADO POLE tags-proc

Pretty good day of fishing for Amy Sheridan from Wyoming and Ashley Jerrigan from Ohio who spent the day fishing with us later in the week when the winds died down. It make all the difference! Big cabrilla and dorado get hoisted on the gaff pole while the ladies pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

yellowtail Joel Zarmati tags

Slugger-sized mossback yellowtail like this one caught by Joel Zarmati have taken up the bite around Cerralvo Island and a few other areas. Finally, the wind settled down and anglers were able to get out and rack some of these nice fish (Thanks for the photo, Roger!)

 

cabrilla ashley tags-proc

Here’s some of the best eating fish in our area! We call ’em cabrilla…Mexican seabass and this is a hefty trophy that Ashley’s holding up while famous Capt. Victor looks on.

Dorado fernando Wayne Jarrett tags

Captain Fernando poses with anger Wayne Jarrett who stuck this big boy bull dorado out at the 88-spot. The big fish are still around, wind permitting!

Whalewatch tags

From now until about mid-March, we’re running our whale watching trips from Bahia Magdalena where the whales have migrated to mate and give birth. It’s an incredible experience to get this close to these magnificent creatures and a great lifetime experience for the whole family to get right up to the whales in the shallow calm waters of the bay! Ask us for details!

Jill n J tags 2 come see us

Jill and I had a blast at the Washington State Fairgrounds this past week meeting lots of our amigos and Tailhunter Tribal members. We’ve been on the road now for a month and have Sacramento, Denver and now Washington under our belt. Next stop is Portland, Oregon for the Northwest Sportsmans Show at the Portland Expo Center. Come see us and let’s talk about getting you down to fish with us in La Paz!

WIND DROPS AND FISH CRANK UP ACTION!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 20-27, 2013

The beginning of the week was a continuation of last week’s strong winter winds that kept everyone off the waters and hunkered down onshore.  But once the winds let up we got back on the water again and late week bites confirmed that the fish are still there and going strong!

There’s a great and rather unusual mix of fish with both warm and cooler water species mixing it up and helping fill up the boxes.

For warm water species, it’s pretty unusual for us to be finding dorado this late/early in the season.  It’s hard to know if this is a continuation late season bite or just an extremely early vanguard of a new dorado season.  I guess it doesn’t really matter!  Dorado are dorado and everyone’s happy with them!  Not many complaints when breezing dorado come running through the chum line and tear into the lines!   The fish are rangy with sizes going from 5 to 30 pounds or so…a nice grade.  The fish are eating sardines, mackerel, dead baits and chasing lures…willing and eating!

In addition, the other inshore biters are ripping as well.  Again…this seems a mite early in the season, but no one is complaining.  This includes largo lisp (mullet snapper), cabrilla (sea bass) and some nice slugger yellowtail as well with fish up to 30 pounds.

As expected, the inshore fish are being found in the shallow waters around structure like reefs and rocks which help them stack odds against the angler show not only have to battle the fish, but the rocky jagged environment waiting to shred lines!  North and south Cerralvo are especially good for the yellowtail as well as  in Bahia de Los Muertos near the point and a tad further south near the Boca de Alamo Arroyo.

Other species have included some nice jack crevalle and bonito.

For some other great activities, the whales have shown up and are going full force out at Bahia Magdalena and we’re running our annual whale watching tours out to the bay to see the whales.  The best time to see these magnificent creatures in the bay after their migration from the Bering Sea is from now to about mid-March.

Fuscia women's tank logo shirt

TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR

Thanks to all the friend and amigos who came to see us this past week at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington.  It was great to see everyone at the Washington Sportsman’s Show especially all the new Tailhunter tribal members-to-be that came to talk to us about coming to see us in La Paz.  We had a blast!

Our next stop in the 2013 Road Tour takes us to Portland, Oregon for the Northwest Sportsman’s Expo at the Portland Expo Center.  We’ll be there from Feb. 6-10th (Wed. to Sunday).  Come by to see us…get your 24 page Tailhunter brochure…our new DVD or pick up our new logo t-shirts that we’ve brought along in both mens and womens styles!  Of course, also to talk to us about your next fishing adventure in La Paz!  Come see us!

NEW TAILHUNTER U.S. MAILING ADDRESS

If you’re sending us anything, even though, we live in La Paz, we’ve changed our U.S. MAILING address!  The new address is:

P.O. Box 1149

Alpine CA 91903-1149

carnivale 2 (2)

STAY TUNED

We’re getting alot of questions about CARNIVAL week in La Paz.  La Paz goes into full-party mode Feb. 6-12th.  The city will be rockin’!

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: 

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.”

Read Full Post »

tags tim zimmer 12-12 dorado

This looks like a poster! The colors are incredible on this bull dorado that Tim Zimmer caught with Captain Jorge out of Bahia de Los Muertos with us. It was another week of surprising big dorado up to 40 pounds…the kind we normally get during warmer weather! We also had quite a variety of other fish as well.

cristina ainsworth sierra 12-12 tags

Big fat sierra! We’ve had some of the biggest sierra I’ve seen in a long time these past few weeks. Just check out this big sierra that Christine Ainsworth caught fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are schooling in the shallows right now and can be great on light tackle!

verda tags pompano 12-12

Just to show off some of the variety these past few week, we’ve gotten pargo, cabrilla, rainbow runners, jack crevalle, roosterfish, sierra and great eating fish like Verda Boyd’s Africa pompano she’s got on the gaff here with Captain Jorge.

mike ainsworth tags rooster 12-12

Posed like a professional! That’s exactly what Mike Ainsworth does! He’s a fishing guide up in Washington and knew exactly how to hold this roosterfish he got on the flyrod just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos that can be seen just behind him in the background only yards from the beach. We’re still getting roosters in varying sizes like school-sized fish all the way up to 70 and 80 pounders!

There's a reason the local name for jack crevalle is "Toro" which means "Bull" in Spanish.  These jack crevalle are among the gamest fighters in our waters.  Tim shows off one jack he got while fishing 3 days with us.

There’s a reason the local name for jack crevalle is “Toro” which means “Bull” in Spanish. These jack crevalle are among the gamest fighters in our waters. Tim shows off one jack he got while fishing 3 days with us.

SAILFISH – BIG DORADO – ROOSTERFISH SURPRISE WINTER ANGLERS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 11-16, 201

We had some late week rains which are very unusual for this time of year when winds are usually what we have to worry about, but we had a bit of both.  As the week went on, the winds got stronger then the winds died and then the wind died and we got some crazy rains!  Nothing really strong, but enough to fall fairly steadily and get everything wet on and off for about 2 days!

However, earlier in the week, we really had some excellent fishing.  Once again the dorado were truly a surprise.  Hard to believe it’s winter when 20-40 pound dorado are ripping up the anglers and putting some big smiles on faces.  But, that’s the kind of fishing we were getting.  Limits or near limits of dorado with the larger fish and bigger schools east of Cerralvo Island.  On top of it, even-to-some-degree when the weather was a bit sour, we had sailfish and smaller striped marlin in the count! 

Closer to shore, smaller schoolie-sized dorado, but add in some solid sierra fishing plus pargo, cabrilla, a smattering of jack crevalle and pompano and bonito and it makes for some great unexpected action! Even bigger surprise, we got hammered by some really unexpected catches of roosterfish…and not just the smaller school-size fish either.  We got some 60-80 pound bruisers just off Punta Perico and the lighthouse as well as some of the roosters on the flyrod.

Hope your holidays are going 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:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm 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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As pretty a picture as you can have. This fresh bull dorado shows great colors after being caught by Mark Tefelski from Los Olivos CA near Santa Barbara. A good little run of dorado was a surprising highlight of the catch this week. Mark got this one just outside Bahia de Los Muertos.

It was another good week for late-season roosterfish like this one caught by Randy Bartholomay who visited us from Gaviotas CA. The roosterfish have been schooling near Cerralvo Island and then in the area between the Arenas lighthouse and Boca de Alamo. This guy was released.

There’s still some dorado north of La Paz although it’s getting windier and choppier as north winds increase and the season changes. But, Randy Choate and Captain Rogelio pose with a nice dorado they caught near Espirito Santo Island. Randy is from Idaho.

Our flyfishers have been having a surprisingly good time as long as the winds stay down. Tom Ames and Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet hold up another roosterfish that fell to a sardine pattern and was later released. That’s the beach at Muertos Bay in the background.

Another pretty fish held up by Larry Hildebrand from Chico CA who was on his first trip with us and picked up this and several other nice fish near Las Arenas.

It’s her first! Claire Ames from Idaho got into the nice roosterfish bite with this school-sized fighter she released after catching it in Bahia de Los Muertos.

We spent the week in Cabo San Lucas working for the 14th Annual Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament. It was a huge success with over $564 thousand dollars in prize money and with 121 teams making it the largest tournament in Baja this year. This was the largest fish of the tournament a 372 pound giant!

Last laugh! Don’t giggle at this tiny 30.4 pound wahoo. It is the most expensive wahoo you will ever see! It was worth almost $80 thousand dollars in prize money at the 14th Annual Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament when no other wahoo or dorado larger than this were brought to the scales! So…this guy was the winner…all the way to the bank!

LATE SEASON DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH KEEP RODS BENT!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 4-11, 2012

Surprisingly, given the cooler temperatures and breezier conditions, we had a nice run of top water fish including dorado.  Just when I thought the season had ended for dorado, our pangas got some nice numbers and good quality fish between 10 and 30 pounds each day.  Most of our fishing, however, is now with our Las Arenas fleet shoving off from Bahia de Los Muertos because the north winds are making it a bit too rough to fish out’ve La Paz.  No sense in getting beat up when you get can the same fish in calmer waters fishing from the Las Arenas area.

The dorado have been coming from a variety of areas.  As close as Punta Perico just a few minutes from the beach and around the lighthouse where the deeper water starts have been good areas, but to the south near Boca de Alamo and south end of Cerralvo Island have also produced schooling mahi.

In addition to the dorado, we’re getting inshore species like pargo, cabrilla and sierra and surprisingly the roosterfish are still hanging out as well near the lighthouse, in Bahia de Los Muertos and also near the island.  Sierra have been increasing in numbers as the waters cool as well.   We had a few knockdowns and hookups on sailfish this week also with all fish released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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.”

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First-time visitors from Washington and new amigos, Barbette Davidson and Robert Brooks got into a sweet dorado bite out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos early in the week with some good quality fish. The bite at Las Arenas has definitely improved since earlier in the season.

Oh the agony! Ed does his best to hold up one of his dorado  caught on his panga while  our popular driver, Carlos looks on. Nice rack of fish to take home standing there at the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

This was just crazy! Normally, flat and blue and pretty-as-a-postcard, two of our captains struggle to get the panga back on the trailer and out of the water. Note the chop and muddy waters from rains! Southern winds whipped the normallly calm seas into a froth on one of the few days of the season when it was just crazy to try to get fish. The sun was out but the seas were not being kind. This was the remnant of Tropical Storm Kristy that was blowing several hundred miles away.

La Paz has gotten more rain in the past 3 weeks than the last 3 years! Almost every afternoon, for about 10-30 minutes we get localized rain or thundershowers. Sometimes just breezers and sometimes gully-washers! This is the view outstide Tailhunter Restaurant. Ten minutes later the sun was out blazing again!

For those of you who have fished with us over all the years, you know how dry our desert looks and what the drive to Las Arenas looks like! Well, after 3 weeks of rain…TAKE A LOOK! Grass is growing. Flowers are blooming. Butterflies are all overthe place. The WILD  SKINNY COWS ARE GETTING FAT! Everything is green! The mountains are sprouting jungles!  It’s like the earth has turned into a giant Chia Pet!

Our amigo, Al Yu, wasn’t trying to catch a billfish. He had a sardine out on light tackle trying to catch a dorado when this sailfish bit on 30 pound test! Fight on! They were going to release the fish, but it had swallowed the hook. Still a nice catch, Al! We did get quite a few hook ups on sails this week, all were either released or got off!

Jeanine Stenzel and her husband Roy are technically our La Paz neighbors since they completed their house in La Paz and they come to visit us every few weeks always trying to get in a day of fishing! Our amiga poses with one of several she hooked fishing with our Las Arenas fleet from Bahia de Los Muertos.

Had to post up this one of our daughter, Jessie, with another dorado and the big smile. Check out the skies. Pretty much how it looks every afternoon just before the rains come. Fortunately, most of the times everyone is already in and able to enjoy the cool downpour over a cold cerveza. Jess was fishing near Espirito Santo Island when she hooked this one!

Fred Li had a few banner days of fishing with us and really got into the dorado like this one taken north of La Paz!

WORKING A LITTLE HARDER FOR OUR FISH THIS PAST WEEK BUT DORADO AND SOME TUNA KEEP IT BENT!

La Paz-Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 9-16, 2012

It was hard to get too excited this week.  We have so many great weeks of fishing I’d have to say this week was OK.  There was some good fishing.  There was some great fishing.  And then, there were some bad days of fishing.   That about sums it up.

No way to put a finger on it.  We continued to have tropical conditions with variable weather that dropped mega sunshine on us one minute with tons of humidity followed by growing clouds in the afternoon and often heavy localized thundershowers.  (By “localized” I mean it would rain like the 2nd coming of Noah in one spots but ¼ mile away, it would be dry as toast!).  The weather might be a part of it.  We have not had a hurricane but instead have had about 3 weeks of mini-showers.  Very welcome to the area since we’ve not had pretty much any rain for about 3 years.  However, in the last 3 weeks, we’ve had more cumulative rain than in the past 3 years combined.  By most opinions, we’ll take little afternoon thundershowers over a hurricane any day!

But, it also meant variable fishing.  I mean, everyone got fish.  If you fished more than 1 days, you were gonna get fish.  Most of it was going to be dorado.  But one day, you could be absolute aces and the hero on the beach and the next day, with no changes at all, you might end up with barely one fish!   5 pangas would fish an area and 3 would get limited early and be back on the beach.  One would get 3 fish.  The last panga fishing exactly in the same spot would get one little dorado!  The next day it might be all reversed.

The highlight of the week was the tuna that blew up at Las Arenas.  In fact, it was an epic bite off Cerralvo Island that some guys described “the bite of a lifetime!”  “All we could want.”  “Just stupid good fishing!”  About mid-week the football tuna…8-12 pounders…just came boiling and biting about anything that got thrown in the water!  Just wild.  We all thought that it was finally the beginning of “tuna season.”

Well…

Not so fast.  Just like in the past when the tuna sort of peeked out…the tuna disappeared the next day in rough choppy waters spurred by high winds that made it literally crazy to even try to get to the tuna grounds.  (See the photo above of what Muertos Bay looked like!)  And that was that.  As the week went on, a few tuna popped up, but nothing to get too excited about.

So, that’s the bite.  Dorado.  Some tuna.  A few sailfish.  Oh…and a wahoo.  Dorado are still the big biters so I figure we’ll let these waters calm down from the tropical storms and they’ll come foaming back.

I did want to share one story from Barbette Davidson who fished with us this week with Rob Brooks (See the top photo with all the dorado).  She tells us that on the plane ride back to Washington Rob fell asleep.

“Robert fell asleep on the plane and was slouching forward a little bit and all of a sudden he pulled back hard against the seat with his head and lifted his arms.  This woke him up and I asked him what he was doing and he said he thought he had a “fish on”.  LOL he was dreaming of catching fish!”

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:
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.”

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Dorado were again our bread-and-butter, especially for our clients fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Even when the weather turned, the fish continued to bite. Captain Rogelio holds up a trophy bull dorado that Mark Gilliam of Thousand Oaks stuff of Espiritu Santo Island.

Wyoming first-timer, Amy Larson, had a banner day fishing out of Las Arenas with Tailhunter captain, Jorge. Now that we’re getting some sardines for bait, the fishing has improved with dorado getting most of the attention.

Shawn Parker got a bit of a mix fishing north of La Paz. Dorado from fishing topwater and nice barred pargo fishing closer to the rocks. Shawn is from the Reno NV area.

Brennan Lowery and Roger Hayak hadn’t fished with us in quite awhile, but had 3 pretty good days playing with the dorado schools last week. The show off a double-pair of mahi they caught their first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Both are from the Newbury Park / Westlake Village CA area.

Iowa in the house! Andy Gilliam did a good job repping the mid-west this past week. It was Andy’s first trip with us and he got a number of dorado similar to this one out of La Paz and Las Arenas.

Rick Kasper has place north or La Paz and visits often. In 31 years fishing the area, he had never caught a roosterfish until this past week when he caught and released this nice one off Cerralvo Island east of Las Arenas on a live bait.

Shawn Parker had a knack for nice pargo this week and he wasn’t even fishing for pargo! He was trolling deep water for wahoo with a Rapala when somehow this big pargo came up from the bottom and whacked the lure!

We had some brief thunderstorms this week, but some of them were pretty crazy! Mid-week we got a 45 minute dambuster that had downtown La Paz under several feet of water and turned streets into rivers!

Down on the malecon on the waterfront by our Tailhunter Restaurant, within minutes of the rainstorm starting, roads were blocked by torrents of water. By the very nature of these storms, several hundred yards away it was completely dry. Not a drop had fallen.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Mark Gilliam put a big dorado in the boat this week.  Check out the final moments of the battle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoRQrH_KC-o

THUNDERSTORMS AND SUNSHINE MIX WITH DORADO AND OTHER SPECIES

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 19-26, 2012

It was another crazy week of thundershowers on-and-off.  It would rain one place, but not another.  It would rain for 5 minutes or 60 minutes.  One place would flood, but another place would be bone-dry!  Downtown La Paz was under several feet of water early in the week as a flash downpour with thunder and lightning engulfed the commercial areas, but several blocks away, there wasn’t even any single rain-drop!

But, despite all that, we were able to continue fishing with no interruptions.  Often, during this time of year, we’ll get these thunderstorms.  You can often see them coming in columns of rain marching across the mountains or ocean. Pretty much all you do is either drive the boat around them or else you pull over and onto the beach …which is never far away…and wait it out for a few minutes then head back out .

Even tho’ the sun isn’t out sometimes, the fishing can still be good.  The rains wash a lot of junk into the water and can really discolor the water especially with the run-off of mud from streets, ditches and arroyos.  Seen from the air, it’s really a contrast between the dirty brown water and the true color of the ocean.  However, the upside of that is all the debris that’s carried into the ocean as well.  This includes brush, plants, trash, trees, parts of structures, branches…anything that floats.

This stuff accumulates on the surface and becomes a haven for baitfish.  The baitfish, in turn, attract the larger predators, especially the dorado.  So, one of the keys to fishing this time of year is to look for the current lines where the brush and debris will accumulate in long lines or just look for anything floating.  Anything out there is worth investigating!  Even a floating bit of styrofoam cup might be holding dorado under it.  You never know!  You could come up on a floating tree trunk and find dorado, tuna, wahoo and billfish all milling around it but never know it until you trolled by it or tossed some bait at it!

This past week there were some pretty decent days of fishing for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets.  The La Paz side had more fish and larger dorado but Las Arenas had some decent day as well with smaller dorado, but more variety with roosterfish, pargo, and a few billfish as well as scattered tuna.  Most of the dorado were 5-15 pounds, but larger ones in the 20-30 pound class were around with some larger ones lost.  Some striped marlin were also caught and released.  Not many guys got roosterfish this week, but that might be because not many of our fishermen were chasing them, but the few that did go after them got some in the 15-30 pound category.

Still no wahoo to speak of and tuna remain elusive although we should be getting into them about now.  September and October are usually the best part of the year for fishing !

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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.”

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Tailhunter Captain Victor goofs with Gerry Acosta and Victor Gildelmontes who got into the nice bite of football tuna late in the week of Cerralvo Island. The guys got into the bite but ran out’ve beer and came back to shore. Then, they went back out and caught more fish! All the tuna were fun 8-12 pounders, but the first school-sized fish we’ve seen all season.

Mario Salazar and Luis Arandia started hooking tuna when this nice sailfish bit while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Attempts to release the sail weren’t successful and the meat was donated. The guys also got some nice dorado while fishing several days with us.

Our long time amigo, Victor Ochoa with Captain Jorge. This is one of the great stories. Several years ago, Victor was fishing with us and Capt. Jorge was running the panga. As the day went on, they realized they were COUSINS! Victor’s mother had moved to California but was the cousin to Capt. Jorge’s mother! So, the two guys are related and always fish well together plus have a good time showing off one of their larger dorado of the trip.

Pam Sharp rocked her day with this trophy roosterfish that was released while she was fishing off the Ventana-Cerralvo area with Capt. Fabio. Great fish and super shot. (Thanks Hawk!)

We have sure had some good fishermen from New Mexico this season! Darren Hanson flew his own plane down and spent several days on the water with us. He took this huge bull north of La Paz near Espiritu Santo Island.

Our buddy, James “Hawk” Davis, took this incredible shot of Pam Sharp’s marlin doing the dance as it’s close to the panga. You can see her special “pink lure” on the line as the fish does it’s thing. Great shot and Pam also released the big fish.

Jim Lipkowski wanted one day to get a shot at getitng a roosterfish and successfully got this nice pez gallo of Las Arenas.

Nice buffet…yellowfin tuna…a pargo…even a small mako shark as Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Don Slaiman. 

TUNA SHOW UP AT LAS ARENAS WHILE DORADO CONTINUE FULL MOON FEEDING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 29 to Aug. 5, 2012

Despite the full moon, it wasn’t a bad week of fishing at all!  The past few months, the full moon has actually been our better fishing.  However, while the fishing seemed to slow just a tad, it was still pretty steady enough to fill some ice chests and keep anglers happy.

The dorado bite north of La Paz continued.  Some days were better than others and some of our pangas did better than others but overall, if you fished a few days, you were going to get some nice limits of dorado that averaged about 15 pounds, but no unusual to have others in the 20-45 pound class as well.  As far as I can remember this week, we had a lot of pangas out and I think pretty much everyone had shots at some of the bigger boys.  Some of them caught them and some well…got away!  That’s why they’re BIG!  But there was some great action.  The biggest factor seemed to be the wind.  Some days were a little breezy and those days made finding the dorado a bit harder.  The less wind…the better the dorado bite seemed to be.

The nicest surprise was the tuna boil that took place late in the week off Cerralvo Island.  In spots between the island and the 88 spot to the east there were some nice boils of tuna going off.  Nothing big, but for some pangas all the football sized 8-15 pounders they could handle!   At the time of this writing, I don’t know if this is a fluke or the start of some nice tuna shots, but at least at the end of the week things sure looked promising.  Some of the commercial guys who were out as far as 25-35 miles said there were some spots of larger fish in the 30-50 pound category.

But for our Las Arenas fleet, even if they didn’t fish for tuna, it remains the spot for roosterfish.  Boy, did we have some nice roosterfish going this week.  Several of the fish were in the 40-65 pound class plus a good number in the 20-30 pound class.  It continues to be one of the best roosterfish seasons in a long time.

Also, quite  few marlin and sailfish around still.  We’re not specifically targeting them, but we hooked a number just while fishing for dorado or other species.  Most were released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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