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Posts Tagged ‘grey whales’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 21-28, 2014

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Debbie Winkleman from Arizona gets a lift from Captain Boli after putting this nice bull dorado in the boat near Espirito Santo Island.

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Ken Cavallon (left) from Washington got his first sailfish just before the hurricane hit. He gets a hand from amigos, Wade Webster and Scott Daniels. Unfortunately, their fishing got interrupted by the storm.

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Another dorado for Debbie on the beach in front of La Concha Hotel!

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Mike Bryant with one of his dorado that he got just off the point at Las Arenas.

Jilly and JR

Two weeks ago, we were ankle deep and surveying the damage the morning after Odile struck La Paz. Fallen trees…broekn windows…shattered glass everywhere. It had been a long and sleepless night.  The start of many to follow.  The hotel has made a remarkable recovery!



 

LA PAZ…AIRLINES…FISHING BACK ON TRACK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 21-28, 2014

Two weeks ago, we were standing in the water surveying the rubble and destruction for the biggest hurricane ever to hit Baja.  Two weeks later…WE’RE ON THE COMEBACK!  We’re digging out with remarkable speed!

Frankly, there hasn’t been alot of fishing going on since the hurricane.  All the tourists have pretty much been evacuated or, there’s no way to fly in, or hotels have been damaged or without services so trips have been canceled.  Local residents or expats aren’t fishing either as everyone struggles to get back on keel with larger things to worry about like food, water, gas and their homes and jobs.

However, we’ve had a few boats out here and there.  Weather has still been erratic.  Nothing bad, but there have been some lingering intermittent rain cells that have moved through the area that has also kept us off the water or winds strong enough where it was better just not to put out any boats.

As might be expected, the further we get away from the hurricane, the better the water conditions.  Given that we just had the biggest hurricane in Baja history, it’s not surprising that the waters were very overturned dirty and green.  Lots of debris in the water too.

The first few days, there were a few small dorado around.  Some sierra and bonito as well.

Within a few days, we were seeing more dorado, but they seemed interested, but wary.  Very hesitant to take a bait or lure.

By the end of this week, the fish were back on the chew.  We had limits or near limits of dorado including some nice bulls in the 20-30 pound class as well as bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle and a few small rooster fish.

For everyone who sent well wishes and support phone calls and e-mails, we much appreciated it.  We’re digging out and like everyone else, trying to manage and pull back together.  The storm has been pretty devastating. On many levels.

The La Paz Airport is back in operation.  Tourists are gone, but the hotels are jammed full with more than 20,000 escapees from Cabo San Lucas.

___________

And we just got this  HOT FLASH:

As of Oct 8th…ALASKA AIRLINES WILL HAVE ONE FLIGHT A DAY FROM LA PAZ TO CABO SAN LUCAS!!!

ALASKA AIR

Here is the official announcement:

Alaska Airlines will resume flying one daily roundtrip flight from Los Angeles

to Los Cabos starting Oct. 8 following the recent announcement that Los Cabos

International Airport will reopen. Tickets are now available for purchase at [

http://www.alaskaair.com/ ]www.alaskaair.com.

The airport sustained significant damage by Hurricane Odile and has since been

closed for repairs. 

Starting Oct. 8, Flight 236 will depart Los Angeles at 10:10 a.m. arriving in

Los Cabos at 1:26 p.m. The return Flight 251 will depart Los Cabos at 2:25 p.m.

and arrive in Los Angeles at 3:45 p.m. 

Customers who are currently holding a reservation on flight 236 or 251 for Oct.8 or later do not need to rebook their flight.  

__________

All our pangas and captains are well.  We pulled the pangas out’ve the water before the storm hit.  The La Paz captains did better than our Las Arenas captains.  At Las Arenas, many in the area are will without water, power, electricity or phones.  Compound that with the tremendous loss of work with all the cancelations.  The loss of work is a big hit for everyone.

Generally, here in La Paz, most areas have water and power and phones again.  But many of the outlying areas are still lacking services two weeks after the storm.  Of course, many of those who had the least, lost the most and have the hardest time making the comeback.  In Cabo, they have approximately only 15% back on the grid, but the improvement is remarkable given initial estimates.  As mentioned above, the airport will start getting flights this week.  Many hotels are opening albeit on a limited basis.  But again, the most underprivileged areas were hit the hardest and will take the longest to recover.

Many have asked for ways to help.  Thanks for the generous hearts.  If you’re coming down, ANYTHING is welcome.  Many people lost everything.  All ages.  All areas.  Clothes…school supplies…medical supplies…anything is appreciated and needed.  If you’re not coming down, there are still ways to help:

La Paz Rises

https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Paz-Rises/636793356437674

Links for donations and other info will be up and hopefully it can be of use as a clearing house for info.  My wife Jill started this page.

 FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/index.php?webkey=losninosdelapaz

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Baja disaster relief fund (Mexican Red Cross/International Community Foundation)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/?webkey=bajadisasterrelief

 

That’s our story.   

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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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 14-21, 2014

CNN weather

BIG AND ANGRY! ODILE sat right on us.

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Odile’s tracking path up the Baja

 

HISTORIC STORM  RIPS INTO BAJA

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept 14-21

What a week!

I could be writing for many many pages over what has happened since our last fishing report a week ago, but let me try to summarize everything.  You can surely look up alot of this (especially photos and video online by googling it!) but since I’m writing this and we do not have much electricity and only sporadic and very slow internet,  I have to be brief before I lose the signal again.  Most of the La Paz photos are mine.  Others from friends and clients.  Others taken from the internet with appreciation and apologies in order to tell the story.

WHAT HAPPENED:

  • A bit more than a week ago ODILE appeared on our weather radars with some trepidation.  It gathered speed and power, but like more than a dozen storms before it, the weather models showed it coming our way then glancing out to see giving us maybe some a bit of rain and wind.  We were all relieved.  The week before, Hurricane Norbert had come at us and didn’t do much other than keep our boats off the water for two days.  No harm to anyone or to property.
  • Last Saturday night, ODILE did something even the experts didn’t expect.  It turned rapidly back right into Baja.  Predictions had it anywhere from a Category 2 to Category 5 Hurricane (5 being the strongest).  Hurricane Sandy that hit the East Coast last year was a 3.
  • Being that this was a 4 day holiday weekend, everyone was ready to party.  No one paying much attention to the weather and gearing up for the huge Independence Day Festivities.
  • We watch the weather daily and warned as many as we could and geared up for it. Most in La Paz thought it would be “just another strong storm.”  We knew differently.  We hunkered down and advised our clients to do the same.
  • Around midnight it slammed into La Paz.  Hurricane ODILE ripped in with 110-140 mph winds.  Turned into the strongest hurricane in Baja history.
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Even after it has passed, 30-40 mph winds continued to hit La Paz the morning after.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE

  • It was like being inside a vacuum cleaner full blast with giant trains blasting through.  Tree branches shattered.  Entire trees pulled up by the roots came crashing down.  Furniture blew.  Glass breaking everywhere.  Our ceiling collapses.  Roofs lifted off.  Cement walls knocked over.
  • Power lines falling.  Paint peeled off walls.  Bark completely stripped off trees.   Telephone pole and power poles snapped in half or at ground level.  Rain and wind both coming in sheets.  Sound so loud you can’t talk or hear a yell.  Vehicles tipped over.  Beach palapas tossed topsy turvy in the air like the little umbrellas in tropical drinks.
  • Statues knocked off pedestals.  Signs ripped off buildings.  Metal sreet light poles, not just broken, but twisted like licorice until they snapped. Rocks and boulders tumbling from hillsides.  Boats blown off their anchor and moorings.  Many sunk.  Many blown aground across the bay.  Boats in yards knocked over like tenpins. Entire sides of high buildings stripped off a cat had clawed them.

AFTERMATH

The storm came through quickly that literally, it was over fast.  By the next morning, everyone was out and surveying the damage.  Most were relieved.  But that’s when it really got worse.

LA PAZ

  • Lots or property damage.  No water, power, cell, electricity, gasoline.  Many many trees torn up by the roots.  Debris everywhere.  30-40 boats in the marina sunk.  Power lines criss-crossed across road.  Power poles and trees snapped off and fallen across homes and crushing walls.  Road blocked.
  • Airport shut down.
  • Several persons missing with their boats (later found deceased)
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Many old trees were pulled up by their roots and were knocked or blown over.

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Debris everywhere. Many trees and plants were completely denuded.

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Beach palapa flipped upside down after it snapped and tossed 30 yards up the beach.

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Phone lines and power poles askew

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La Concha pool turned into a green murky pond of debris.

CABO SAN LUCAS

  • Entire neighborhoods flatted and destroyed
  • New Airport destroyed
  • Widespread destruction in hotels and homes
  • Estimated 30,000 tourists stranded with no flights
  • Estimated 25,000 people in shelters
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Entire neighborhoods in Cabo were destroyed.

Cabo home

Many lost everything. Many of those didn’t have much to begin with.

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The remains of Cabo Airport.

IN THE PAST WEEK SINCE HURRICANE

LA PAZ

  • Many areas still without water or power, but slowly coming back.  Most of the hotels have power and water by day 4.
  • Cell phone reception in many areas returned by day 3
  • Gasoline shortages critical for a few days with rationing or running out, especially as folks from Cabo San Lucas migrated up and started to purchase gas.  Same with food shortages.  Many of the larger markets and stores are empty, but getting better after 1 week as supplies come in.
  • Some looting reported, but has been controlled
  • Boats in the marina or those that have been abandoned and grounded have been looted.
  • Airport semi-open after being closed for a few days.  There are some commercial flights starting next week.  Volaris Airlines sent down several empty planes to help with evacuations.
  • It took us 5 days to evacuate all of our clients through the La Paz Airport and through the La Paz Ferryboat taking.  Many took another 2-4 days to finally get home to the U.S. Some were stuck in airports for several days sleeping on floors waiting to get flights.
  • It looked like Hurricane Polo was going to kick us again this weekend, but it tempered down to a tropical storm and now threatens only some rain this weekend and during the week.  GRACIAS A DIOS!  But, it’s like dog-piling on a guy with two broken legs.
  • Town is packed with refugees and escapees from Cabo San Lucas trying to get away or just looking for a roof and water or here trying to purchase gas and food or supplies. There are ZERO hotel rooms available at night.  Even the littlest hole-in-the-wall place is booked with people waiting to get in.  Even if the hotel does not have full water and power, people are happy to be away from Cabo.
  • As La Paz is the capital of the State of Baja Sur and the seat of government, crews have been working around the clock and hundreds of techs from mainland Mexico along with equipment have been brought over to get electricity and communications back on the grid.
Power lines and debris are knocked over on a street after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz

Destruction in downtown La Paz

PEMEX gas station

The roof of one downtown Pemex gas station in La Paz came crashing down.

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The La Paz waterfront malecon soaked and sloshed

CABO SAN LUCAS

  • By everyone’s account, this is going to take a long time to re-build.
  • Thousands of troops and police have been brought in to get control.
  • It has been described as a war zone.  Destruction is everywhere.
  • Looting has been widespread.  All the big stores have been emptied.
  • Gangs roaming the streets with weapons and machetes have been reported
  • Citizen groups have banded together to protect their neighborhoods and homes and using rocks, re-bar and bricks to defend themselves against attacking gangs.
  • Much gunfire heard at night
  • False roadblocks have been reported in order to hi-jack cars
  • The airport has two runways open for military, government and humanitarian flights to help with lack of food, water and medicine.  80% of the city still has no power or phones.
  • Estimates that half of the 30,000 stranded tourists have now been evacuated a week after the hurricane.
  • The U.S. State Department has recommended that folks get to their nearest Cabo or La Paz Airport and special flights are being used to evacuate, but expect long waits.
  • Many many people driving to La Paz to escape.  Roads are damaged, but passable.  Roads north of La Paz up to the U.S. are down in some places due to flooding and damage, and expect waits, but it’s usable most of the time.  Work going on  constantly.  All of those communities…El Rosario, Constitucion, Loreto, Mulege, etc. all sustained their own damage from ODILE.
  • They say that by this week some airlines like Alaska will be running flights in and out’ve Cabo San Lucas.

 

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Looting in Cabo San Lucas. Diapers and cereal for the kids.  Cup o Noodle for Mom and Dad.  But Captain Morgan too?

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It got ugly during the looting

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What’s left of Cabo Walmart

TAILHUNTER

We had some REALLY GREAT FISHING going on before the hurricane! Dangit, the storm spoiled it all.  When the storm hit, we had several dozen folks here and the aftermath was the most difficult.  Many of our folks never got to fish at all.  However, thankfully, no one was hurt and our biggest situation was (1)  Getting the home and evacuated safely and (2)  While they were stuck here making them as comfortable as possible given no water…electricity…cell phones…and dwindling food.

Almost all of our folks were at La Concha Beach Resort thankfully so it made it easier than other times when we might have dozens of folks scattered among, 3, 4 or 5 locations.  The folks and staff at La Concha were and continue to be magnificent.  Much of the hotel was damaged.  Of the more than 100 rooms only 20 did not sustain damage.  Even 1 week after the storm, there is still no water or power fully established.

However, the hotel folks worked round the clock.  Many of them sleeping at the hotel and working by candlelight or digging out rooms and grounds from debris, fallen trees, broken glass and shredded walls.  A limited menu was served during special hours in the lobby since the restaurant glass was blown out but they really did a good job on the food.

Our drivers, Jorge and Esteban were freakin’ heroes.  Despite their own problems at their own homes, they ferried our people to and from markets…to and from airports and the ferrys…at all hours at their OWN expense…just to help out and always doing it with a smile and good sense of humor even in the most stressful times even when their own families needed their presence.  There was nothing they wouldn’t do.

Kudos also to our guests…who hung in there during a trying time with patience and good will and all the laughs possible under the circumstances.  They were all stars.  No one losing their cool.  No one going “Ugly American.”  No one blaming anyone, but rather helping each other and bonding and hanging tough.  Thankfully, everyone got home or is on their way home.  No one injured.  No one hurt.  I’m just sorry that their vacations took such a turn.

Tailhunter Restaurant is open.  Our own staff kicked butt and cleaned up most of the damage and allowed us to open 3 days after the storm with a limited menu, but open when many others still were closed.  Many of our “new friends” are from Cabo San Lucas and just relieved to be here and we’ve been sharing our phones and internet signals with them so they can reach out.  For many, this is their first time in La Paz.   We are still having trouble with ice and some food items, but each day it’s been a bit better.

As for the fishing…well…regretfully, we’ve had a load of cancellations understandably.  We’re telling everyone who postpones that they will get 100% credit towards their new dates.  We have had no banks open or available all week. Banks aren’t even answering their phones.  Not even an ATM,  so doing business has been problematic.  But we’re still here and we’ll pull out’ve this.  Losses have been huge, but could have been worse and there are so many others who have it much worse than us.

But, as for yesterday, we have been putting a few stranded folks on boats and there’s still dorado out there!  We can actually see rooster fish breaking just off the beach outside the restaurant.  So the fish are waiting! They haven’t been biting really well because the waters are really messed up, but if we don’t get any more turbulence, waters should clear up and fish will be back…we hope!

Will keep you as posted as we can signal and phone reception allowing.  Thank you for all your good wishes.  We’ve literally gotten hundreds of e-mails, phone messages and facebook messages and simply cannot answer them all.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP

Jill put together these links if you’d like to help and make donations:

La Paz Rises

https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Paz-Rises/636793356437674

Links for donations and other info will be up and hopefully it can be of use as a clearing house for info.

FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/index.php?webkey=losninosdelapaz

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Baja disaster relief fund (Mexican Red Cross/International Community Foundation)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/?webkey=bajadisasterrelief

God bless.  That’s our story

combo-signature-black letters

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 7-14, 2014

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Bruce Dodge (in the shirt with the scales) and his amigos from S.California had a great 3 days of fishing with good numbers or dorado between 10 and 35 pounds plus other species. Here they were with some of their fish from Las Arenas on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

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The skies darken in a matter of minutes at Bahia de Los Muertos as we wait for our fishing pangas to hurredly get back in!

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The track of Hurricane ODILE as of Sunday morning.

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Chris Kerley and Bob Patterson with some big grins and big dorado including this huge bull on the sand at Muertos Bay.

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Captain Jorge does a group shot with Jeff Bobo and Rod Emi from the Los Angeles area and their first day of fishing.

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Tasty catch and an unusual one for Chris Kerley and his pompano. Normally, we don’t see these fish until springtime. Great eating and related to yellowtail, jack crevalle, roosterfish and amberjack.

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It’s great to see folks catch a “FIRST!” For Mike and Karina jennings from Black Diamond, Washington, these are their first roosterfish. In fact, for Karina, it was her first-ever saltwater fish. All fish were released.

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New Mexico in the house! Captain “Arkie” Archangel helps photo op another nice bull dorado with our amigos, Scott Burmeister and Bo Herrera from New Mexico.

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Great colors on Mike Jennings nice dorado with Punta Perrico in the background.

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Mike Delaney is all smiled with Captain Pancho and this nice barred pargo headed for the barbecue.

 

POWERFUL HURRICANE ODILE BEARS DOWN ON LA PAZ PUTS SOGGY END TO GOOD WEEK

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

Another in a long string of crazy weeks!

Last week Tropical Storm Norbert hit us and interrupted a really nice jag of fishing for a few days.  No real damage, just some wind and rain and enough to have to cancel fishing for two days.

But, then, with each passing day away from Norbert, fishing got better and better and better!

For the better part of this week, we were well into some really nice dorado.  Good school-sized fish from 8-15 pounds mixed with some larger 20-40 pound models.  Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets were bent on fish every day!

In addition to the dorado, we were also getting into some sailfish, striped marlin, rooster fish to 50 pounds, a couple of wahoo hookups (none landed) and even some pargo and cabrilla along with the bonito!

A real nice mix.  Lots of action.  Great conditions. Good numbers of fish.

And all during this time, we saw another storm…”ODILE” forming up south of us.  Initially, it looked like it was coming straight for us.  It as cause for concern.

But, as with about a dozen storms before it, it started up our way, then with each day it veered further and further west out into the Pacific.  At most, we expected a bit of rain and wind.  We could handle that.

But, then Saturday night about midnight, ODILE, pulled a fast one and unexpectedly veered right back at Baja.  And, as I’m writing this Sunday evening,  it’s gonna be a big one.  It’s possibly going to be a CATEGORY 4 or 5!  That’s “Katrina”-sized storm.  That means winds and rains up to about 120-150 mph.

As I’m writing this, rains are just starting to fall and winds are escalating.  We were able to fish today, but we’re canceling fishing tomorrow (MONDAY) and probably Tuesday as well as I’m sure the port captain won’t allow anyone out.  We expect that by this evening, we’ll start getting the heavy rains and we’ll get slammed SUNDAY NIGHT.

We had the football games going full turbo at our Tailhunter Restaurant, but had to send everyone home after the Chargers/ Seahawks game in order to start dismantling the restaurant to securing everything agains the storm and also to let our employees get home to their families.  We’re sandbagging and locking everything down.  Basically under siege for a few days.  Hopefully, we’ll all be fine.

AND FISHING AGAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS!

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 1-7, 2014

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Scott McKenzie from Seattle WA and his sisters Jana and Lauren have fished with us many times for many years and caught all kinds of fish with us including marlin that they released. But this one was quite a story. While fishing with our Tailhunter fleet at Bahia de Los Muertos, they caught a few dorado the saw a marlin on the surface. They tossed a bait at it and the fish went off. Over three hours, the three of them battled the fish on a light rod and 40-pound test. However, during the first hour they almost had the fish to the boat and it was battling down and bulldogging without doing much jumping. Suddenly the big striper went ballistic as two killer whales started to chase it! During the balance of the battle, the fish stayed largely airborne trying to avoid the killer whales which circled the marlin and the panga adding quite a measure of excitement. They finally got the fish to the boat but were not able to revive it…but the marlin probable didn’t want to go back in the water anyway. The killer whales kept circling and finally swam off.

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The McKenzie marlin gets air as it’s being chased by the killer whales!

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Happy Birthday to me! Our good amigo, Mike Whitlow from Kennewick, WA came down to celebrate #50 with us. He’s a spectacular light tackle fisherman and pro bass guy too! He got himself this nice rooster on light tackle and did a great release after the photo! Feliz cumpleanos, amigo!

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Some images from Mike Whitlow’s 50th birthday party at Tailhunter Restaurant! Good time had by all! Thanks for sharing, Mike and Wendy!

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Darryl “Buffalo Soldier” Poindexter…one of the nicest and funnest guys on his first trip regretfully, only got to fish one day before the storm hit us ,but he made the most of it with a good day of dorado fishing like this nice bull he presses overhead!

NORBERT

It was FUGLY! Norbert eventually turned into a Cat 3 hurricane that by now has gone up the Baja coast and is dropping rain on the SW United States, but not before doing some pretty bad damage to Baja coastal areas. Gratefully, La Paz didn’t get hit too hard, but enough to put the clamp on fishing. Better to be safe and dry with a cold one.

HURRICANE PARTY!

When you can’t fish…fishermen very often…find other means of entertainment! Thanks to everyone this week, including Alex Trasvina and his boys who kept grinning even tho’ they had only one day to fish and had to cancel. They ended up at Tailhunter Restaurant watching football and raising their glasses! Salud, Fish Brothers! The “Tequila Bandito” says you rock!

Adam Florence 9-14 dorado small

This is another great story. Adam Florence all the way from Kansas was fishing with Captain Pancho. He went to Walmart here in La Paz and got a cheapo freshwater spinning rod with 8 lb. test. He got bit big time and this bull dorado was all he could handle almost spooling him. They had to chase it down with the boat!

Wade Ralston rooster 8-14 tags small

Great shot and super fish by Wade Ralston who visited us from Washington on his first trip down. Punta Perrico in the background right off the rocks. Wade is a light tackle guy and fishes bass tournaments professionally. He did a great catch-and-release on this pez gallo.

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Nick Petrilli and his son, Nick, Jr. had a banner day out’ve Las Arenas with Captain Pancho and a slammer of mahi.

Dave Sundgren Steve Rosebaugh dorado tags 9-14 small

Just after the storm, the waters started to get back to normal. Dave Sundgren and Steve Rosebaugh hold up a nice pair on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

 

GOOD FISHING SLAMMED BY STORM NORBERT

ALTHOUGH LA PAZ ESCAPES DAMAGE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-7, 2014

It was a worrisome week on alot of levels.  The previous week had been one of the slowest weeks of fishing for the season for no apparent reason.  All the signs were there for good fishing, yet the fish just either didn’t show up or just weren’t ready to cooperate.  It wasn’t just slow, it was dead.

So, we jumped into this week not knowing what was going to happen. It was a tale of two completely different weeks…

EARLY IN THE WEEK

As it turned out, the fishing came back to life!  Maybe not full blast, but compared to the previous week, we were rocking with bent rods and good variety.  Both of our fleets…the Tailhunter fleet in Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets found dorado between 8 and 15 pounds on the average, but also some of the trophy bulls running 20-40 pounds.  Limits were not uncommon and it was good to see that some times there were so many fish that anglers were releasing them as fast as they could go or at least kicking back the small ones!  It’s been a few weeks since we had that kind of bite.  Moreso, we often had double…triple…and quadruple hookups!

Even better, for our Las Arenas fleet where it’s really been a struggle sometimes, we not only had dorado, but a surprising number of sailfish and marlin were hooked between 70 and 200 pounds.  Most were released, but really did a number for some of the guys using light tackle.

As well, rooster fish showed up again between 10 and 50 pounds and we even had a few wahoo hooked up although none made it back to the boats!  Add in some big bonito…jack crevalle…some pargo and snapper and it made for a pretty decent week of fishing.

During this whole time, we were all watching the weather…and watching…and watching.  Norbert started as a little blip…it got bigger and bigger…and went to tropical storm level.  But like so many other storms that have appeared on the horizon down south, the tracking for the storm showed it was going out to the Pacific and wouldn’t do more than drop a little rain on us.  We were sure that like all the other storms, it would continue to veer out and away from Baja.

It didn’t…

LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK

Tropical Storm Norbert became Hurricane Norbert and would eventually reach a category 3 ripper.  Although La Paz did not suffer extensive damage, in areas of Cabo and along the Pacific Coast, there was extensive flooding and damage.  Several thousand people had to be evacuated and over 1000 homes were damaged.  At the time of writing this, there was at least 1 fatality related to the storm.

For us in La Paz, the heavy wind and rain hit us just as we were launching in the early dark of Thursday morning.  Rain began to pelt and the winds began to howl.  And it got stronger.  We all went for cover and hunkered down. And hunkered down.

For three days pretty much everyone had to sit it out.    The roads to Las Arenas got flooded.  Mud everywhere.  While La Paz pretty much did not flood. there were intermittent bits of heavy wind…rain…drizzle…and more rain as the storm passed.  AND THE PORT WAS CLOSED!  So, we couldn’t even get out if we wanted to.  For safety measures, the port captain kept the port bottled up and prevented anyone from leaving until mid-morning Saturday.

It was really bad especially for some of our many anglers who never got to fish before having to go home.  Or only getting to fish 1 day or 2 days.  And, when they did get to fish, conditions weren’t the best.  If it wasn’t windy or wet, then the waters, even after the storm passed, were turned over green and muddy.  Hat’s off to so many guys who grinned and were patient and still kept smiling while we did our best to control things of which we had no control.  You guys and gals are the best!

It wasn’t until Sunday that we finally started to see some changes in the water and some better fishing action with dorado, billfish and pargo waking up.

This coming week, as you’re reading this looks like it might have some of the best weather we’ve seen in awhile.  Hopefully, it lets the fishing come ripping back!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of July 27 to Aug. 3, 2014

 

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With a big heave…Randy Payne hefts up a solid beast of a bull dorado in front of the Las Cruces area fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet in an area that produce some of the better quality dorado this past week!

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Brennan Lowery from Los Angeles shows off one of his big bulls he got while posing on the beach at Balandra Bay. He and his dad had an epic day with multiple hookups!

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She’s a trooper! Kris Brownlee from Rock Springs, Wyoming gets seasick, but that never stops here from always bringing the smiles and getting into the fish no matter how she feels. Captain Jorge from our Las Arenas fleet gives her a big thumbs-up for this trophy roosterfish caught just south of Bahia de Los Muertos on a day when all our pangas got into the roosters and ALL OF THEM WERE RELEASED! Congrats to Kris!

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Captain Rogelio “Jolly Roger” gives a hand to first-timer Jessica Reeve visiting us from Wyoming who got this sailfish pretty much right in La Paz Bay! Attempts to release the fish were not successful. The sailfish have been feeding on the small dorado in the bay.

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He’s got the cool hat and the nice fish! Luke Brownlee from Wyoming fished with us the whole week and our amigo got some nice fish like this as well as roosters and had some shots at billfish as well.

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Check out the colors on Mike Menasco’s fish! Every now and then we get these gorgeous blue-colored bull dorado. He was fishing just off El Rosario when he nailed this bull.

 

DORADO SHARE STAGE WITH BILLFISH AND ROOSTERS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 27-Aug. 3, 2014

 

For once, we had a fairly consistent week of fishing.  No big storms.  No surprise rainfall.  No big winds.  It all made a difference even tho’ we did keep an eye on Hurricane Hernan which stayed far away and fortunately didn’t affect us in La Paz.  So, we had a good week of fishing overall.

Our best performers continued to be the dorado.  But, we had good showings of roosters, sailfish, marlin and even a few pargo.

Las Arenas

Our anglers who fished Las Arenas ran into more of those school-sized dorado.  They sometimes pesky fish are 5-15 pounds with the average being about 8 pounds.  Lots of fun on light tackle and surface jigs.  Have had several groups of anglers out there with bass rigs and spinning rods having way too much fun.  Some larger fish in the 20-25 pound class but not that many.  I will say that toward the end of the week, the bite surely improved with not only more fish per panga, but more quality fish as well which was a great surprise as well as some billfish showing.   Sorry…no wahoo for awhile and live bait is still an issue, but we’re using a mixture of live bait and dead baits that are all working well.

One of the nice surprises this week were the rooster fish.   We hadn’t had that many roosters lately either because they’ve moved on or simply we haven’t had that many folks chasing them.  They’re exotic and a much sought-after gamefish, but they don’t taste good so if you’re looking for something to put on the plate, it doesn’t make too much sense for many anglers.

However, we had a number of folks take a shot at them this week coming back with 20-50 pound fish caught-and-released after nice photos.

La Paz

Our most solid fishing again. Fish can be surprisingly close to shore and literally in the bay.   If you’re looking for school-sized fish, one of our anglers said, “We could still see the hotel and Tailhunter Restaurant from where we were fishing all day.  Every cast was a biter!”    Again, great fun on light tackle and line.

Larger fish were found closer to Espirito Santo Island and around the corner in front of Las Cruces and El Rosario where the fish would be in the 30-40 pound class.  As well, schools of jack crevalle would be found that really busted up some happy fishermen and put the hurt on some rods.

There are also some good numbers of billfish.   A majority of our hook ups on marlin and sails this week occurred right where the small dorado schools were located probably because the billfish are feeding on the smaller dorado.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 20-27, 2014

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This is the best mustache of the week! Don Slaiman and Captain Pancho from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet bust out the big smiles with two nice bull dorado on the beach.

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Chris Chang owns an organic nursery in Canada and had never fished in Mexico before, but fishing with Tailhunters got plenty of dorado and, on his last day, a huge 300 pound blue marlin north of La Paz that he fought on a Penn 6/0 reel with 60 pound test and put in the boat in only about an hour. The gut hooked fish inhaled the green and orange lure all the way down it’s gullet.  He was fishing with popular Captain Rogelio “Jolly Roger” Camacho.

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There’s a zillion good things going on in this photo of Tyler Emard from Fullerton CA. Fishing with Captain Rogelio from our Taihunter La Paz fleet, Tyler fought this dorado…his first and biggest…for 20 minutes on light tackle…no belt…all arms and shoulders! He’s headed to the University of Arizona in a few weeks! Great colors on this photo!

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The skies went from clear to this…as a wave or darkness hits the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. There had been absolutely nothing on the advisories or radar about this. That’s why they are called “toritos.” (little bulls). These storms come out of nowhere with thunder, lightning, wind and rain and it’s almost like a baby hurricane. Ominous. The pangas had to scramble back to the beach for cover.

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Seven minutes after the first photo, here’s what the beach looked like at Bahia de Los Muertos…a malestrom! Thirty minutes later, the sun was out…

 

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Las Arenas provided some good action this week for Tailhunter clients including Steve Holguin from Los Angeles and his son, Marcos who is attending college in New York as the pair show off a set of dorado standing on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Susie Waters had never fished La Paz or ocean-fished before, but broke into it big time with a couple of days on the water with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This is just a super photo of her hanging the fish all by herself with big smiles.

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Long Beach fishing veteran, Zach Linden, raced down for a last-minute trip this week and a couple of days of fishing. The fish gods smiled and Zach did some great action on ultralight tackle including this pair of La Paz dorado.

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Rebecca Kendrick got into the thick of the dorado action with this nice bull mahi fishing with Captain Alfredo and deckie Blas. She had always wanted to fish Mexico and salt water and had a great first experience with a number of nice fish over several days of fishing.

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It’s got a little sand on the forehead, but a great photo of Peter Knapp and Captain Pancho on the beach at Las Arenas with this nice-sized bull.

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Grant Stark and Levi Fadoul put the wood to this thick bull dorado fishing north of La Paz last week. These two guys had too much fun all week. Always seemed to be cracking up!

 

UNPREDICTABLE EL NINO CONDITIONS AFFECT FISHING BUT DORADO DO THEIR BEST

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2014

With the exception of another of those surprise “torito” (little bull) storms that popped up on Thursday, it was a pretty good week of fishing for the most part.

This time of year, waters are extremely warm…actually, warmer than usual…as a result of the “el nino” situation.  This has given rise to rapidly forming storms that are not shown on weather advisories in the morning.  However, out of seemingly clear skies, huge thunderheads suddenly build and the skies grow dark within minutes.  Winds start whipping and wave emerge from calm seas turning the ocean into churning froth.  Wind-driven rain doesn’t fall so much as it shoots sideways from the gusts.  It’s time to get the heck off the water!

Several weeks ago, one of these storms turned into a huge waterspout between Cerralvo Island and El Sargento and Las Arenas.  We didn’t quite get that this week, but in the span of about 10 minutes clear skies went dark and the oceans got treacherous.  The pangas had barely been on the water, but found themselves racing back to the beach made more perilous by waves now pounding the sands where the pangas had to land.  Lighting strikes illuminated everyone scrambling around for shelter.  Cell phone and electrical power gets cut off.

As the rains hit and everyone hunkers down….that’s pretty much all you can do.  There’s a reason they call these “little bulls.”  Within an hour or two…sometimes in the span of minutes…it’s over.  The sun blazes back out.  The winds turn off.  The skies go clear and flat.  Except for puddles of water, there’s no trace.

And that’s what happened Thursday morning.

But, the rest of the week was pretty grand!

LAS ARENAS

Fishing definitely improved over the week before.  Again, dorado were center stage, but there were fewer punk 5 pound dorado and more respectable 10-20 pounders and all willing to charge pretty much water was in the water.  Some boats did better than others, but then the next day the boat that did poorly would be the big boy boat.  Consistently , ever panga we put on the water caught fish…or had opportunities to catch fish.  One of the big problems is that the baits we have tend to be large.  Hence, it takes longer than normal for the fish to really chomp the bait and get a hook down in their mouths.  Anxious anglers would often tell me they pulled the trigger too soon before the dorado could eat and they would lose the hook-set and half-a-bait would come flying back to the boat…sans dorado!

LA PAZ

Still our most consistent area.  Our La Paz boats rocked some really nice 20-40 pound fish this week as they have now since June.  The fish extend  right from La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island then around the corner to about El Rosario/ Las Cruces where the larger bulls seem to have taken residence not too far from the beach.  Co-incidentally, that’s where large schools of baitfish have been seen.  We also got some roosterfish off the beaches.

The bigger news is the increased incidence of hookups with billfish including larger-than-normal sailfish and even some blue marlin.  I don’t remember seeing so many hookups on blue marlin as I have the past two or three weeks.  Most of the sails and marlin are getting released, but one fish that couldn’t be released was a hefty 300-pound blue.

WEATHER

El Nino effects keep coming.  Days can start out with bright brilliant sunshine but by afternoon, the clouds roll in and we get tropical storms that can be pretty crazy.  It can rain in one place and 100 yards away,  it’s bone dry! And the rain can last 5 minutes of an hour.  Then the sun comes blazing out.  But, there’s some predictions of more afternoon rain this week.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of July 6-13, 2014

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That’s the way to do it! Our Captain Eddy Carballo helps 13-year-old Luke Fregoso from Agoura Hills with his biggest dorado. The 40-pound class bull was hooked north of La Paz and Luke fought it solo all the way to the boat. He also had a fish estimated at 50 pounds on for awhile.

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Yes! There was some crazy weather this past week. Here’s a shot taken from the beach of the giant waterspout that popped up in the channel between Cerralvo Island, La Ventana and Las Arenas. No one has ever seen one this big out there.

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Fortunately, this didn’t affect the fishing! But, it was pretty fascinating to watch!

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Sam Sybesma (right) and Landon Tilema (left) have a handful of bull dorado here on the beach at Balandra after another good day of fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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Debbie White , our amiga from Tualatin OR, spends several weeks a year with husband, Don, with us in La Paz getting in some great fishing and always taking big fish like Debbie’s massively huge bull dorado here just outside of Bahia de los Muertos!

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Wayne Moss has been my friend for many years and an exellent fisherman. He is a commercial pilot in the Maldives but took a few days to visit us and got a nice catch-and-release roosterfish just outside of Las Arenas.

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Dick Carroll and his wife, Jeanette come to us from New Mexico and pose with a really nice Las Arenas bull dorado on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Norm and Dorothy Fulco have known me since I ran JNJ Fishing Tackle in Rosemead CA some 20 years ago! The usually come to visit in July for Dorothy’s birthday and like fishing with Captain Pancho.

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“Big Fish” Don White and an incredibly-colored blue bull dorado! Don is from Tualatin, Oregon near Portland.

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Rob is looking pretty serious here but had to be one of the funniest guys this week. He took a day to give pargo fishing a shot and, while they lost several large models to the rocks, did manage this smaller one to bring back and add to the box of dorado!

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Syd De Vries from Ripon CA and Captain Rogelio put another dorado in the boat. Yes, Rogelio is shorter than Syd! They were fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

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Not as many whalesharks around these days, but there’s a few around. This “baby” 12 footer came up in the middle of the fishing boats to check out the action.

 

FULL MOON – TROPICAL RAINS – WATERSPOUTS AND DORADO!

La Paz  – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 6-13, 2014

 

It was another one of crazy weeks.   The fish were here but the weather was crazy funky.  We had afternoon tropical storms that brought some heavy thunderstorms at times and flooding.  The nutty thing was that it would rain for 10 minutes here…but not there…30 minutes in one area and 2 blocks away, it would be totally dry.  This is normally the kind of weather we get in the fall, but El Nino conditions seem to have changed the game a bit.  Thankfully, no hurricanes and no serious damage from the flooding, but out-of-the-blue mid-week, we actually had some pretty intense water-spouts show up between El Sargento, Las Arenas and Cerralvo Island.   They looked like water tornados like the kind that would pick up your house and send you off to the Land of Oz!  Incredible to watch.

Here’s what we saw this week:

LAS ARENAS

Our Tailhunter fleet at Las Arenas again found lots of action on the smaller school-sized dorado in the 5-8 pound range.  They are like little squirrels all over the place.  The larger models were harder to find, but the few we got were trophy 30-40 pound slugs.     Dorado made up 80% of our Las Arenas catch.

Other species included some marlin and sailfish and roosters along the beach.  Live bait continues to be problematic, but we’re still getting fish.  No wahoo this week, but that’s because no one was really fishing for them.  However, divers say the skinnies are still out by the island.

LA PAZ

La Paz fishing has been our “cooler-filler” action.  The dorado have been 10-40 pounds regularly with a number of fish in the great 15-20 pound category.  Lots of fun.  Plenty strong without destroying anyone!   I think the fact that we have move live bait in our La Paz area has made a difference.  In addition to the dorado we are getting hookups with striped marlin and sails as well.  We did some schools of roosters along the beaches and some of our guys that went after pargo and cabrilla got schooled on some big fish that took them to the rocks!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of June 8-15, 2014

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WHOAAA!!!!   That’s a big fat rooster! Captain Jorge helps out Robert Rost who was fishing with us for his first time from Boise, Idaho! Robert had super week topped by this huge rooster they caught and released near Punta Arenas!

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That’s a big wahoo for Ty Mitchell from Washington on his 2nd trip with us. He got this trophy off Cerralvo Island fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet!

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Captain  “Fettucine” Alfredo from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet photobombs deckhand Blas posing with our amigos from Colorado Doc Art Flippin and son-in-law Mike Shepherd!

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Tiffany FLOYD could NOT have been a more fun person to come down to fish! I don’t think she ever stopped laughing or smiling and this big sailfish with Captain Joel put a big smile on her face. She was down celebrating her anniversary and she caught this just outside La Paz Bay!

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OH the joy! This is just pure ecstasy! Mike Shepherd had a great week with us, but a big dorado eluded him all week. But at the last hour with almost his last bait on the last day, he finally put the wood to this nice bull dorado! Great facial expression, Mike! CLASSIC!

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I think this should be their new 2014 Christmas card photo! The Nichols family run a big time fishing operation out’ve Florida and came down for a few days to visit. They all got and released their first roosterfish plus some nice dorado including this trophy bull that ended up for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant!

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Dennis Cudal knew this one was headed to the grill when he stuck this nice big barred pargo around Espirito Santo Island.

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Check this off the bucket list! Nothing like an exotic roosterfish on the line! Jeff FLOYD from Idaho, was fishing with Captain Pancho literally just a few yards from the beach at Las Arenas and caught and released this big time rooster!

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An extended Father’s Day Week plus graduation present for Craig and Ashley Sanford from the Phoenix AZ area where they show off quite a variety of fish they caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet including cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish and dorado!

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Great story. Mike Shepherd was trolling a big bait in the shallow waters near Punta Perrico when his rod went off and all heck broke loose. He started yelling, “MARLIN! MARLIN!” Captain Jorge was tying up some lines and not looking and said, “There’s no marlin here!” Until he looked up! MIke had on a fish estimated at well over 200 pounds! Unfortunately, only 30 pound test so they hung on as best as they could while wife, Candi snapped photos! Folks ask all the time for “bigger boats” so they can go out further and catch “bigger fish!” Well, as you can see, we don’t have to go far and our pangas do just fine!

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Our good amigo, Don Busse, always does well and he put this big pargo on board at Las Arenas and ended up bringing it to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!

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It was a good week for big barred pargo! Al Nojadera has been fishing with us for alot of years and shows off one of his big pargo.

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Gary Pilkington is from Northern Cal and fished with Captain Pancho. Gary was on his 2nd visit with us and wanted to get a rooster! Mission accomplished with this caught-and-released trophy!

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Luke Appel from Malibu took a nice picture and a great photo of this barred pargo in full raging colors! These are tough tough fish when hooked and fight like beasts!

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This is our rockstar, Rick Kasper, who always gets fish with us. Rick has a place our there near La Paz now and spends several weeks hanging out and fishing!

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Captain Adolfo and Megan Kennedy with another colorful rooster onboard and flat blue waters behind! The fish was caught and released. Megan was on her first trip and came down with dad.

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This is just a super fun photo! One on board and another on the rod for Tiffany and Jeff Floyd celebrating their 19th anniversary with a trip to La Paz!

 

ROOSTERS DORADO LIGHT IT UP WITH THE FULL MOON…AND ANOTHER MISSED HURRICANE!

 

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 8-15 2014

 

 

Another fairly solid week of fishing even with the full moon…even with another hurricane missing us and blowing out to sea (Christina!)… but the difference between our anglers who fished with our Las Arenas fleet and those who fished with our La Paz fleet was like night and day…in a good way!  Fortunately, for us, our clients get to fish both sides if they so choose!

For Las Arenas, at times, the winds plus the big swell generated by hurricane Cristina far to the south had to be contended with and made for some bouncy days, especially towards the end of the week.   The hurricane was up to a category 4 with winds up to 170 mph, but thankfully banked out to the west before it got up to the Baja.

However, it still pushed residual winds and waves our way and up the Sea of Cortez.  The surfers at Land’s End by Cabo and also around Todos Santos were loving the big waves with the thick lips!

But, at Las Arenas, we continued with swarms of little dorado.  So many that some of the anglers are calling it “the nursery” where it was not uncommon to hook and release a dozen or more dorado in short order of fish no bigger than 3-5 pounds!  Great light tackle action, but very few fish larger than that.  The good thing is that the way dorado grow, in just a few months, these fish will be 15-20 pounders!  So, it’s good that many are getting released.

The better action was on the wahoo, especially earlier in the week when that area south of Cerralvo Island kicked out another nice jag of 20-40 pound speedsters on trolled lures like the Rapala X-Raps and Yo-Zuri Magnums.  For every fish taken, at least 2 more were lost so there’s some fish out there.

The other part of Las Arenas were the big roosters that seemed to pop up again with a vengeance.  We had several days mid-week when, as one angler said, “Every bait thrown in the water generated an immediate hammer from a big rooster!”  The fish this week were as “small” as 35-40 pounds, but we had some larger estimated in the 60-85 pound class (by the captains!).

For La Paz anglers, it was a completely different story altogether!  The dorado were bigger.  They were more abundant and they really bent rods and went 15-40 pounds with some larger ones lost.  The bonus was the many of the best bites were literally right in La Paz Bay or just outside without having to go very far.  As well, where the smaller dorado were found, marlin and sailfish were in the same areas either eating the same baits or else feeding on the small dorado themselves.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter Fleet for Week of Feb. 23 to March 2, 2014

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In 20 years running our operations in La Paz, I’ve not had anyone pull up a big broomtail grouper like this. Leif (“Don’t  call me “Garrett”) Dover from Atlanta GA has been fishing at least 2 times a year for many years and always sticks fish with us. He said this fish slammed into his jig and almost pulled him out’ve the boat. This is not just a trophy fish, it’s also an unusual catch!

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Fishermen come for years trying to stick a trophy wahoo. Don Asp came down on his first trip from Minnesota and rips this sweet ‘hoo! He’s just trying to catch some sunshine and get in a little fishing. Instead he gets on of the most prized fish in Baja. He’s on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Lots of wahoo this week. Unbelievable.

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Ken Gragg (left) is one of our best amigos who fishes with us at Tailhunter several times a year and came down this past week with his son, Steve. They found the schools of big pargo liso off the rocks near Las Arenas. Tough fish to put in the boat!

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Brian O’Neil gets a funny look from our Tailhunter Moncho as Brian struggles with a wiggling big amberjack and not get stuck by the jig. First big amberjack of the season for Brian!

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OK…this one turned out to be the biggest amberjack of the week…maybe the year! Look at this beast that Capt. Hugo hung!   The amberjack is the delicious big cousin of the yellowtail. These are generally not caught in our waters until later in the spring!  Amigo, Roger Thompson,  was on the boat and took the photo.  Thanks, Rog!

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Shellee Mittan from northern California and her husband, Bill, only had time to squeeze in one day of fishing and got some cabrilla (released) and these two nice sierra.

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We have missed our amigo, Daryl Valdez from Bakersfield CA who usually visits us every year, but hasn’t been down in a bit. Great to see him and he got the largest pargo of the week…this fish estimated at 20-25 pounds.

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Nice forktail! Joe Arata from Pacifca CA dropped a blue and white iron overboard and stuck it to this fat yellowtail off Cerralvo Island. The yellowtail haven’t been as prevailant as normal as water temps and bait conditions have been variable.

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Dave Lue and Chad Gagnier were visiting us for the first time and fishing with Tailhunter and show off their first day of fishing with 2 wahoo plus dorado. The anglers are from Georgia.

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First day hot stick, Leif Dover and Captain Moncho pose with another wahoo taken off Cerralvo Island.

THE MOST AMAZING CRAZY WINTER WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 23 to March , 2014

This might have been the craziest week of winter fishing we’ve seen in our many years here.  Mainly, it’s because it wasn’t winter fishing! I’m not sure what to call it or what to say about it!

In all honesty, the fishing action was really only so-so.  We had a good number of anglers out there and it wasn’t crazy wide-open by any stretch.  And it was better earlier in the week than later when it seemed to taper off.

However, what it lacked in numbers was made up for in quality.  Great quality. Unbelievable quality.  Just look at the photos!

Now, normally this time of year, we’re chasing cold water inshore fish.  Species like sea bass (cabrilla), pargo (snapper), jack crevalle, pompano, sierra and the like.  If conditions are right, we’re also getting the big pig yellowtail as well.

Well, the last few weeks we started getting some really strange biters and I think it culminated this week.  In fact, it was a great indescribable week relatively speaking.

We did find the pargo.  Some big ones right off Punta Perrico.  But, we also got…get this..(drumroll)….wahoo!  Dorado!  A 180-pound striped marlin!  Amberjack!  And even a huge broom tail grouper!

What’s going on?

Maybe it’s the water temps being a little warmer than normal.  Maybe it’s the lack of mackerel that usually draw the yellowtail up from the trenches.  But, I have never seen a winter like this where we’re getting these species.  Sure, every now and then someone gets one, but to have all of these species biting at the same time?  Literally unheard of!

But, the anglers sure stuck some fish.  Bait was still an issue, but using ballyhoo and slow trolling Rapalas and also those guys who dropped yo yo iron did well.   Hot spots were all around Cerralvo Island, around the north and south ends were especially good.  But also around Punta Perico fish were found.  We’ll just have to keep an eye on things!

BRING ON THE BIG SHOW – TAILHUNTER HEADS TO LONG BEACH FRED HALL SHOW

Jilly n JR Long Beach booth

Thanks to all of our new and old amigos in Boise who came to see us at the Idaho Sportsmans Show! We were slammed and had the best show of our 2014 sports tour! Lots of reservations for fishing with us this year and we’re looking forward to all the visit!
But now…we head to the big boy show of shows…the FRED HALL FISHING and HUNTING SHOW at the Long Beach Convention Center starting this Wednesday to Sunday!

We can’t say enough about this past week show at the Idaho Sportsmans’ Show in Boise Idaho.  Thanks to everyone!  The show was packed and our Tailhunter booth was slammed.  We had some of our best day of the 2014 tour this past week and booked lots of new reservations for fishing this year!  Just spectacular!

And now….

We head to the grand-daddy of shows!  The Fred Hall Fishing and Hunting Show starts Wednesday and goes through Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center.  This show is huge so bring your walking shoes!  There’s tons to see for the whole family.  It takes some folks several days to walk through all the displays; check out all the gear for sale; check out the seminars and make their way through the whole show.  This is a huge party.  If you’ve never attended it’s the Woodstock of fishing shows on the West Coast.  Come see us.  We’ll be in our booth in our usual place in the middle of tackle row, next to Izorline fishing line and Whopper Stopper fishing rods.   This is gonna be fun!

Here’s more details:  Fred Hall Fishing Show

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Feb. 2-9, 2014

mark martis wahoo 2-14 tags

Mark Martis visits La Paz several times a year and our amigo has been fishing with Tailhunter for well over a decade. He often surprises us with his great catches, but this surprise catch this past week with Captain Victor was this spectacular wahoo taken off Cerralvo Island.  Officially our first wahoo of the season!

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Seth Caillat got our first official Las Arenas yellowtail of the season. In fact he got two of the plus dorado using live ballyhoo out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos.

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Whale watching season with the gray whales in Magdalena Bay is in full-swing right now with lots of whales in the shallow calm waters! Let us know if we can set up your whale watching trip for the experience of a lifetime! Whales usually hang out until the middle of March.

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The Tailhunter Tour showed up for the Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show this week in Portland Oregon and got slammed with a freak 4 day snow and ice storm that virtually froze everything in the city and shut down much of Portland. We still had a great show!

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Like I said, we still had a spectacular show in Portland with lots of amigos visiting Jill and I including Matt, Tim and Phil who stopped to say hi and take a quick photo at our Tailhunter booth. Next stop…YAKIMA, Washington.

A WEEK OF SURPRISES FOR FISHING WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 2-9, 2014

I’m not sure how to describe the week.  OK, we got some fish.  Yes, it was a little breezy and yes, it was a little bumpy some day out there.  But that’s typical of this time of year.  In all honesty, we didn’t get ALOT of fish.  So, best to be truthful.

However, that’s not what made the week remarkable.

What made it remarkable was the quality of the fish we got!

OK, we got a few cabrilla and some bonito and some sierra.  Ho-hum.  That’s about par for winter fishing right now.  But, whereas we got those big pargo snapper last week and I thought we were going to go zipping into pargo season, the pargo didn’t show.

Instead,  it was a week of FIRSTS!

…we got our first yellowtail of the season…some nice 25-pound fish.  These fish ate some slow trolled big Rapalas as well as slow-trolled ballyhoo that caused the fish to blow up.  Secondly, we also got…(hold on…drumroll…)  WAHOO!!!  Yup.  Wahoo, in winter at the south end of Cerralvo Island. Our first wahoo of the season!

On top of that we got dorado still biting.  Dorado are SUMMER fish!  What’s up with that?  I have a feeling this could be a wacky start to the season.  Every week, we’re running into something different.  That just makes it fun.

TAILHUNTER TOUR LEAVES PORTLAND SHOW AND MOVES TO YAKIMA WASHINGTON!

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It was an incredible crazy snow-filled week in Portland as a freaky 4-day snowstorm pretty much shut down the city! We still had a great time and booked lots of La Paz fishing trips and saw lots of our amigos!

Our 3-month Tailhunter Road Tour says adios to one of our favorite cities in Portland, Oregon where we had a crazy week of an unusual snow and ice storm that pretty much froze the city…and us!  But, we had a great show and now move onto the CENTRAL WASHINGTON SPORTSMEN SHOW in YAKIMA, WASHINGTON!  The show is a fun 3-day event from Friday to Sunday, Feb. 14-16th.  Come say his and let’s talk about visiting us in La Paz this year…where it’s WARM!

For more details, click the link:  CENTRAL WASHINGTON SPORTSMEN SHOW

Hope to see you then!  Have a great week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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