Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘kayak’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Feb. 22-Mar, 1, 2015

Archangel rooster

Captain Archangel shows off one of the nice roosterfish like the ones we got this week. We just didn’t have alot of photos to put in the report since everyone releases their roosterfish! (Which we encourage!) A good week for roosters a little earlier than normal for the year.

CHECK OUT THESE GREAT VIDEOS FROM JORGE ROMERO OUR WHALES GUIDE WITH OUR CLIENTS!

ROOSTERFISH –  PARGO and WHALES HIGHLIGHT WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 22-March 1, 2015

There just weren’t that many fishermen in town this week.  Most folks in town this time of year are snow-birds just trying to get away from the colder areas they live in.  Or as one visitor told me this week, “We give up.  We live on the east coast and could not stand one more snowstorm.  We went as far as we could go as long as we had sunshine.”

It was surely a good week to be in town.  Temperatures were in the 80’s although there were some afternoon clouds that dropped some quick showers up in the mountains.  Pretty pleasant overall.   And not much wind which was pretty good for fishing…if we had more fishermen!  But, it’s to be expected during the off-season when we’ve always got the potential for some strong northern winds that can bounce you off the water.

But, for the few fishermen we had, there was some decent inshore fishing.  The highlights were the pargo and rooster fish.   We don’t have alot of photos this week because…well, most of the rooster fish are released (yay), but there were some nice 10-20 pound fish.  Close in tight to Bahia de Los Muertos and south towards Boca de Alamo.

The other fish that came up nice were the pargo.  But, we don’t have alot of photos of them either this week because…well, the fish bite, but if you have ever fished for pargo, you also know how tough they can be pulling these sluggers out’ve the rocks.  Probably not a tougher fish out there and this time of year is when the big redfish come up into the shallows to spawn.   We “estimate” that the fish that were lost would’ve been in the 10-30 pound range.

Other species included bonito, sierra and cabrilla (sea bass).

WHALES

Although we didn’t have alot of fishermen, we DID have some great whale watching and that’s what alot of folks come to La Paz for this time of the year.

We’re having a spectacular year with an abundance of grey whales in Bahia Magdalena and daily trips headed out and lots of whales this year.  Normally, they’re gone by mid-March but show no signs so far, of leaving in any hurry!   It’s been a great opportunity to literally get close to the whales and touch them.

WHALE SHARKS

whaleshark 1 tags 11-12

How about swimming with an animal the size of a school bus?

whaleshark small

Thanks to Kody and Rick Kasper for these great photos and this week’s great video of Kody underwater.

There have also been some great opportunities right in the bay to swim with the whalesharks.  The “babies” which are about 10-15 feet long are in shallow water but an incredible experience to get in the water with anywhere from one to more than a dozen whalesharks in shallow water.

FRED HALL FISHING SHOW – Wednesday to Sunday

10955876_892800824074371_892800387407748_49159_564_b

There’s nothing like this show if you’re into fishing!

FredHallLB_021712

They line up early and long to get into the show looking for deals!

Crowd_030513

Only part of a skyview of the main hall and the packed aisles in the Long Beach Convention Center!

This is it!  This is the BIG ONE of the YEAR!  We’ve been on the road now for 2 months and had some spectacular shows in Sacramento…Denver…Puyallup (Seattle)…Portland…Phoenix and Yakima.  And now…we’re splitting up again!

I’ll be at the Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Outdoor Show from Wednesday to Sunday.  This is the 69th year for this show and it’s always packed with great gear, trips and lots of amigos!  It’s the big party!

IMG_1982-proc

Our Tailhunter Booth…often a gathering spots for our other amigos in the fishing business. Just some of our “fishing brothers” waiting to see you this week in Long Beach!

BOISE IDAHO SPORTSMANS SHOW- Thursday to Sunday

Regretfully, Jill and I have to split up this week.  She’ll be at the Boise Fairgrounds from Thursday to Sunday.  Another great show and we hate splitting up.  Jill really wants to be with me in Long Beach and I’m sure going to miss being with her and not seeing our friends in Idaho.  But, it’s a way great super show!  Come see Jilly!

IMG-20140215-00670

Jill will be in the booth at the Boise Fairgrounds and has all the info you need to set up your 2015 Fishing Adventure in La Paz with Tailhunter Sportfishing!

 STILL SPOTS FOR 2015 PANGA SLAM

DSC02888

Dave and Michelle Conklin from Washington got some nice dorado at last year’s Panga Slam

PANGA SLAM

BEACH LINEUP of DORADO at last year’s Panga Slam!

Still some spots available.  Dates are June 16-21 and is gonna be a blast with 3 days fishing / hotel/ several great parties and dinners and a big island snorkel party as well.  All this personally hosted by Jill and myself and Executive Editor Pat McDonell from Western Outdoor News.  It promises to be another great time.  For more information, contact us here at Tailhunter at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com or call 626-638-3383.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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 Jan. 18-25, 2015

yellowtail donna tags small 1-15

She’s one of the best! Donna Thompson gets our first yellowtail of the season putting the wood to two nice yellowtail off Cerralvo Island with live bait.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Two more of our super amigos…from Bakersfield, California…Ken Gragg and Carl Lange put a handful of pargo and a cabrila in the boat fishing just outside of Bahia de los Muertos. These are tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks!


Kasper sierra dorado 1-15 tags

Captain Jorge and Richard Branson from Virgin Airlines? Nope…it’s our amigo, Rick Kasper who actually has been a double for Branson, but as an actor and host of his own outdoor TV show has also been a double for Gary Bussey. He’s also a fun fisherman! He’s showing off a dorado and a sierra here although they let a few get away!

YELLOWTAIL AND PARGO MAKE A SHOWING…SO DOES DRIZZLE AND RAIN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 18-25, 2015

The week started on some real high notes.  Not only did we have some really fishing-condusive weather, but the fish decided to join in as well. However, as the week progressed, by the end of the week, not only did winter winds return, but we also got the surprise of rain which dampened things a bit.  Fortunately, being the off-season, we didn’t have to cancel anyone’s fishing trips as they weren’t many folks fishing this week anyway.

However, let’s talk about fishing.  The best news is that we finally got into yellowtail.  The big fork tail jacks really laid low last year when El Nino conditions warmed the waters and made bait and the  big fish a rarity.  However, this week we took some nice quality-grade yellows around Cerralvo Island near the high spots both north and south ends with bait and iron with fish going 20-30 pounds.  Some hefty hamachi!  Hopefully, this is just the start of things to come.

The yellowtail require the cooler waters and normally, we don’t see many until about February or March.  They stick around until about May when the waters start warming and we see the warm water species like dorado, billfish and wahoo move in.  We barely had any yellowtail to speak of at all last year.  We’re hopeful that the yellowtail we saw this week are the vanguard of a nice yellowtail season.

Another fish we really didn’t see last year were the pargo…the big snapper that come up in the springtime just like the yellowtail.  These big red/ copper fish are powerful and in the spring come into the shallows to spawn.  One of the most vicious fish to tangle with and a real frustrating game fish to put in the boat because of their power and the rock cover they love, we got a few of those this week as well.  Most of the big ones get lost because they’re just rugged sluggers, but early in the week some 3-8 pounders came up (a good sized one is 15…a brute is 40!) so, like the yellowtail maybe this year we’ll get them back.

In addition to the yellowtail and the pargo, there were some dorado and sierra taken plus cabrilla.

Then, the wind came back up again from the north and as the weekend approached, skies got cloudy and a few days of rain hit us.  As I’m writing this, we’re still looking at rain then it will let up next week and the forecast calls for some rain late in the week again as the month ends.

WHALES WATCHING ON BAHIA MAGDALENA GOING FULL

whaleswdennis 421

If you want to really do one of those “once-in-a-lifetime” things or check something off your “bucket list” our Bahia Magdalena Whale Watching is in full swing.  The grey whales have come down from the Bering Sea in the longest migration of any animal on the planet.   They showed up a bit early this year and we’re running daily trips to see them.  They usually stay around until about mid-March and the bay is where they come to mate, give birth and basically hang out in the warm calm waters where we can get up close to them in their natural environment.  If you’d like details get in touch with us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com or give us a call at 626-638-3383.

SPOTS FILLING FOR JUNE PANGA SLAM

dorado Christian Regan tags small 6-14

Group shot small tags 6-14

We still have a few spots for our 2015 Tailhunter International / Western Outdoor News Panga Slam.  With 3 days of fishing…a snorkel day party on the island…several fun dinners…a fishing jackpot and much more, this is one of the highlights of our season!  We’re limiting it to only 24 spots and there’s just a few spots still left.  We’ve love to have you join us!  Write us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com for all the details!

THANKS WASHINGTON!  NOW ONTO PORTLAND SPORTSMANS SHOW!

WP_20150122_003

Our good friends, Dave Rose and his family dropped in to say hi and pose for a quick shot. Great family and they’ve visited us a number of times in La Paz. Great to see them.

WP_20150122_001

Jilly working the counter at our booth at the Puyallup Fairgrounds in Washington.

Just a shout-out thank you to all our amigos who came to visit us at the Washington Sportsmans Show at the Seattle Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington.  After shows in Sacramento and Denver and about 3,000 miles of driving, this was our third show of the year and it was a great time. We saw so many of our friends and signed up lots of amigos for their 2015 fishing trips with Tailhunters in 2015.    We now have a few days to catch up and re-group then hit our next show in Portland at the Portland Expo Center from Feb. 4th to 8th.  If you’re in the Portland area, come see us and talk to us about fishing in La Paz!  We’ll see you there.

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 Dec. 28, 2014 to Jan. 4, 2015

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Jim and Brenda Bovee from San Diego hit the sweet spot for wind mid-week and turned in two days of nice varietal fishing with pargo, snapper, sierra and cabrilla!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The Niemeyer family had just one day to get out to fish and came back with a great photo of dorado, white bonito, sierra and cabrilla while on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Victor photobombs the McIvor’s who were trying to get a photo of a sierra!

 

 

GREAT VARIETY OF INSHORE SPECIES TO BRING IN NEW YEAR

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 28, 2014 to Jan. 4, 2015

Happy New Year Everyone!  Hope the new year is off to a good start for you!

We had another windy week here in La Paz, but about Wednesday it started to calm down and suddenly everyone wanted to go fishing!   We put out more pangas in one day than we had in the two previous weeks combined!  I guess everyone was waiting for those pesky north winds to settle down.

Anyway, we sure got quite a variety of fish.  Nothing big, but for so many of our fishermen who are really in town for some sunshine and not necessarily hardcore anglers, there was some great action and fish to bring back for dinner.  There’s alot of out-of-towners in La Paz right now for the holidays who are just trying to squeeze in an activity like snorkeling or diving or a day of fishing here-and-there.

So, for those who went out, we had cabrilla (sea bass) around 2-5 pounds.  Smaller snapper and pargo of about the same size.  Some really nice-sized sierra and some great bonito to bend the rods.  Additionally, we had some surprise fish as well with some rooster fish caught and released that were going about 10-15 pounds; a few school-sized dorado; and even had a wahoo take down a lure, but regretfully come unbuckled.  Oh well…

Still, great action and lots of fun without having to go out too far from shore or get bounced around out there in rough water.  As the weekend came up the winds ramped up a bit and so did the fishing, but as you’re probably reading this, the winds have likely petered out and the seas are flat again.  It’s going to be like this throughout the winter months which is pretty typical.  It’s definitely chillier.  I know many people will laugh, but our guys were complaining about the “cold water” which is now at 72 degrees! 

WE’RE ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

RoldansWEB

The Tailhunter van has left the station and Jill and I are on the road and will be at the first of our “road shows” this week and for the next three months!  First stop will be the International Sportsmans Expo at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento! This is a huge show and will run from Thursday to Sunday (January 8-11th).  Our booth is in it’s usual place in the main hall.

Stop by and talk to us about your 2015 La Paz fishing adventure plus pick up a copy of our new 2015 full-color 24 page brochure and DVD!  Jill has our new 2015 style t-shirts plus Tailhunter stickers!    Jill and I will both be in the booth every day so come by and say hi!

You can get discount tickets right here: https://secure.interactiveticketing.com/a/a946b5?promo=M52SAC

TAILHUNTER / WESTERN OUTDOOR NEW PANGA SLAM 2015

Group shot small tags 6-14

Big dorado showed up on our 3rd and final day of the 2014 Panga Slam!

Angela winning dorado small tags 6-14

Angela Farrell caught several large dorado during the 3 day event and took home a big batch of jackpot money!

 

DSC02760

One of several big parties at the Tailhunter Restaurant!

 

 

Here we go again!  We had such a great time last year, we’re gonna roll it again!  The Tailhunter/ Western Outdoor New Panga Slam is going to be bigger and better and even more fun!

New dates are June 16-21, 2015

Spots are limited to just 24 persons

We’ve added more by popular demand!  This year, it includes 3 days panga fishing…a two-day jackpot tournament…5 nights La Concha Beach Resort…1 day island beach snorkel party…welcome dinner…taco party at Tailhunter and more!

Cost is $1629 per fisherman / $849 non-fisher person.  

$300 non-refundable deposit is what it takes to hold your spot.

Contact us now to get all the details.  Don’t be left out.  Spots are already going!

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 Dec. 21-28, 2014

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Pancho with a nice rack of sierra and a cabrilla.

pargo tags 5-12

Pretty typical inshore winter catch of some great eating, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Incredible day trips right now to swim in La Paz Bay with the whalesharks in the shallow waters! On any given day there are up to several dozen 10-15 foot “juveniles” in the bay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Above or under the water, these gentle animals are a fantastic experience. This is about a 20 footer, feeding on the surface in only about 10 feet of water!

 

 

SUNS OUT BUT SO IS THE WIND!  

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

The weather was tough on us this week.  Quite a few windy days as is often the case during the winter months when the north winds come down and hit us and just make it difficult to get out or, even if we do, it’s just rugged out there or, the big waves make it tough to get bait.  And that’s the way it was for the majority of the week.

I feel badly because most of the folks that fish this time of year are snow-birds just enjoying sunshine who want a day of fishing while in La Paz.  This is unlike during the regular season when folks fish every single day of their vacation and are specifically in town to fish.  For the folks now with only one day to fish, that means we either have to cancel; or they have to just gut-it-out and have a rough day; or we have to juggle their fishing days to find a day where the winds are diminished.

More often than not, we either have to tell folks who only have one specific day to fish that it’s best they not go out, or they go out and really just have a bad time and get beat up and wet and not catch much fish…and that’s not fun either.

On the other side, at least it’s sunny!  Day time temps are in the low to mid-70’s and really pleasant.  Although it was windy, winds should calm down by the time you’re reading this.

We did get out a few times this week.  All of our fishing during the winter months are out’ve Las Arenas/ Bahia de Los Muertos areas.   Because of the winds, waters are pretty turned over and green and dirty in some of our hot spots.  However, we did get into some decent sierra along the beach drop-offs.   Some were hefty 4-5 pound chunkers and ALWAYS great eating.  There were a few small pargo, snapper and cabrilla caught.  We had some school-sized rooster fish caught and released and the bonito helped provide some action as well.

As a side note, many folks don’t know that La Paz has become quite a mecca for whalesharks which have been increasing in numbers the last few season in La Paz Bay where they’re protected.  At times there are 1/2 dozen to several dozen “juveniles” up to 15 feet long or more all in shallow water and great for snorkeling!   We’re running 2-3 hour trips to swim with the whalesharks every day that the winds are favorable.  The juveniles are just a few minutes away and it’s an incredible family once-in-a-lifetime experience.   You are NOT allowed to touch or ride the animals but still…getting just a few feet away from these gentle animals (they are true sharks with no teeth that eat plankton, krill and other small critters) is something not to be missed.

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW!  BRING ON 2015!

Well, 2014 is almost one for the books and I thought it would good to wrap up the year with a full review…

It was as crazy a year as I have ever had in my almost 20 years working here in La Paz.

With El Nino hovering, we entered the year with some trepidation.  El Nino seems to have a zillion variables that change the whole complexion of fishing and sure enough, it started right from the get-go.

El Nino conditions are characterized by warmer than normal waters.  Good in some ways, but bad in so many others.  So, crazily, our waters never really did cool down.  We started the year catching dorado which was a great surprise in some aspects, but the downside was not so good.

For one our cooler water species never really did show up.  While the dorado were biting, we never got into the good yellowtail or the amberjack, sierra or pargo that are so popular in our cooler months. We got a few, but it had to be called a big disappointment.  One aspect of the overly-warm water was the lack of bait.

yellowtail Tim Butterworth tags small 4-13

Tim Butterworth with a fat yellowtail caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

From Idaho taking a break from teaching school, Mandy Pollock let's Tailhunter Capt. Boli struggle with this big yellowtail from the north side of La Paz.  Still a few yellowtail around and this was Mandy's first trip to La Paz.

From Idaho taking a break from teaching school, Mandy Pollock let’s Tailhunter Capt. Boli struggle with this big yellowtail from the north side of La Paz. Still a few yellowtail around and this was Mandy’s first trip to La Paz.

Jorge dorado small tags  4-14

Jorge Ramiro, everyone’s amigo, with two nice spring-time dorado which showed up early this year with the warm waters!

 

Baitfish require cooler waters so that nutrients come from the deep.  The baitfish feed on the nutrients and without those necessities, bait either died off or moved away to find food.  Insofar as we’re a live bait fishery and bait is an important aspect of our sportfishing, it makes it hard to fish, let alone catch fish without bait!  This was to plague us throughout the year.

It didn’t help either that in the Bay of La Paz, bait catchers from the fish farms were scooping up what little bait was available, sometimes at night leaving virtually nothing for the sportfishing fleets and commercial local fishermen who rely on the bait to make their livings.  It wasn’t until almost mid-year that the bait catching stopped.  Surprisingly, our bait stocks suddenly increased!

But, bait was to be an issue all year long.  We made do with what we could get.  That often consisted of a mix of sardines, mackerel, caballitos, baby bonito, ballyhoo and dead bait like cut squid, cut bonito and the like.

It will produced some great catches throughout the year like the dorado, marlin, sailfish and some others.  The most remarkable catches of the year were the rooster fish and wahoo.  We had an above average year for rooster fish underscoring La Paz’s reputation as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World” with fish in the 30-80 pound class not uncommon.

rooster kacie tags armando small 5-14

Kacie and Captain Armando put this nice big rooster in the boat for a photo then quickly released it!

Rick rooster 5-14 tags

Captain Jorge and our buddy, Rick Kasper, always has the knack for big fish like this world-class huge roosterfish caught just off the shallow beach near the Las Arenas lighthouse then released.

rooster brian davis 5-14 small tags

From Louisiana, Brian Davis stuck his giant roosterfish with Captain Pancho that might have tipped the scales into the triple digits, but was gratefully released.

As for wahoo, the cycle came around this year.  After a few years of negligible wahoo to show, we had a fairly outstanding year for wahoo with fish in the 30-50 pound class and larger often taken and the best spots around Espirito Santo Island.  For folks who had never caught a wahoo or rooster, this was the kind of year where many anglers finally got their first of each species, sometimes on the same day.

Rich Pomeroy tags small wahoo 5-14

Lots of amigos got their first wahoos this year like Rich Pomeroy from Northern California who was on his first trip to La Paz.

Kris Honkola wahoo 1-14 tags 10-14

Big wahoo like this one caught by Kris Honkola were a great catch this year in 2014

The biggest issue of our year was the weather.  It played havoc all year.

As is characteristic of El Nino years, storms are more common and we gritted our teeth and watched hurricanes and rainstorms threaten us and sometimes drop some rain on us and stormy conditions.  We have over a dozen come our way, but dodged almost all of them until the big one finally turned on us in a surprise of historic proportions.

Hurricane Odile slammed into Baja with winds up to 150 miles per hour.  It turned out to be the biggest hurricane in Baja history causing widespread devastation.  La Paz was in it’s path and, although the fury of the storm was spent in about 6 hours, the destruction and aftermath were felt for weeks and La Paz and Baja are still in the rebuilding process.

WP_20140915_023

Hotel La Concha in La Paz just hours after hurricane Odile ripped through.

AIRPORT 1

The Cabo San Lucas Airport was brand new but left in shambles.

Power lines and debris are knocked over on a street after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz

Hurricane Odile devastated neighborhoods. Baja is still re-building but financially, recovery will be long-coming .

 

As far as fishing, we were back to fishing within a week of the storm.  However, since airports were shut down or destroyed, there was no way for clients to come into Baja and hence suffered many weeks of cancelations and lost bookings during the part of the season which is traditionally the busiest time of the year.  The ripple effect on much of the economy will take a long time to recover.

But interestingly, right after the hurricane, fishing took off!  Some of the best fishing took place in the weeks and months post-Odile with dorado, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, and other species biting better than they had at any time of the year and with continued warm waters through Christmas, continued to bite!

Marlin Snead 10-14 small tags

Bucket list marlin for Steve Snead from Idaho who battled this guy for a long fight despite his bad back and released the fish to fight another day!

Cathy and Craig tags wahoo dorado small 10-14

Craig and Cathy Corda had a gigantic nice day on the water with dorado and wahoo!

Caray dorado tags mike robbi 10-14

First timers, Mike and Robbi Caray with one of several big dorado caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Here’s hoping for a mo’ bettah 2014, but as long as all of us are safe, happy and have each other, all  is good.  Here’s to wishing you the best with a big MUCHAS GRACIAS for being part of this great adventure!  God bless you all!

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

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 Fleet for Week of Nov. 2-9, 2014

dorado marty tags 11-14 small

Captain Armando helps Marty Koschnitzke with a nice bull dorado caught out’ve Bahia de los Muertos. Marty squeezed in a day of fishing and had a few dorado and other species put into the panga.

Ehlers family tags small 11-14 dorado

The wonderful Ehlers Family from Colorado! John and Dolores at center. Tyler Ehlers and Cheyenne Weinholtz holding dorado on the outside around grandpa and grandma on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos. These were typical-sized fish this week.

 

 

Mike Caray dorado tags small 2014

A much “larger model” for Mike Caray from Portland OR on his first trip with us fishing La Paz. Good day on dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

dorado weinholtz dennis tags 1014

Captain Pancho and Dennis Weinholtz have big smiles with a bull dorado just south of Las Arenas. Dennis is from Colorado.

 

SEASONS CHANGING – SO IS THE FISHING – AND THE FISHERMEN!

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

After nervously watching to see if late-season hurricane “Vance” was going to make up it’s mind and give us a scare, it turned into not much of anything except a few raindrops and some wind!  And we’re not complaining. It’s pretty late in the year to be seeing storms like this and, you can tell how many storms we have had by the fact that we’ve almost gone through the whole alphabet and are on letter “V” for “Vance.”   I think we’ve had enough for awhile.

Anyway, in anticipation of some kind of stormy event, most folks stayed off the water Tuesday and Wednesday just as a precaution.  Admittedly, Tuesday was really windy…far too windy to want to put anglers out there getting wet and bounced around.  So, it was easier to just tell folks to hang out in town.

However, on the other days, we did have some OK dorado action with fish in the 10-20 pound class.  Most of the bite was near the south end of Espirito Santo Island and near El Rosario plus just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

The latter area seems to hold the most variety right now as we transition towards cooler water fishing.  In addition to the dorado, we also hooked a few billfish including sailfish and small striped marlin…pargo…cabrilla…jack crevalle and a few more of the decent sized 30-50 pound rooster fish.  But, the majority of the bite this week consisted of a variety of inshore fish like the jacks, pargo and bonito..even some small amberjack and sierra which are normally cooler water fish.  Fun light tackle action.

It will be interesting to see what we do with this full moon right now. But, as of mid-week it hasn’t affected the fishing very much.  There’s a definite drop-off in the number of anglers this week as we head into November.  So, that by itself makes it hard to gauge the fishing.  It’s hard to be completely accurate. When there’s a large number of our anglers out there scattered over the fishing grounds, it’s easier to find the hot spots.  Plus, the “anglers” are changing as well.  From March to October, we have more hardcore anglers, but now with winter setting in, we have more snow-birds who just want some sunshine and maybe a day on the water fishing.

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. 14-21, 2014

CNN weather

BIG AND ANGRY! ODILE sat right on us.

ep201415_5day

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.
WP_20140915_023

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)
WP_20140915_038

Many old trees were pulled up by their roots and were knocked or blown over.

WP_20140915_036

Debris everywhere. Many trees and plants were completely denuded.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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

WP_20140915_037

Phone lines and power poles askew

WP_20140915_019

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
hurricane-odile-aftermath

Entire neighborhoods in Cabo were destroyed.

Cabo home

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

AIRPORT 1

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.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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.

 

140916-cabo-looting-kns-1204_62e29c9c46116c1a02a0343ca344a7c1

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

looting 1

It got ugly during the looting

walmart

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. 1-7, 2014

marlin mckenzie tags small 8-14

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.

McKenzie marlin jumping collage 8-14

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

mike whitlow tags small rooster 8-14

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!

Whitlow party 9-14

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

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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.”

Read Full Post »

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

Luke Fregoso dorado 8-14 small tags

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.

tromba-marina-la-paz- el sargento

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.

10464246_1474713229435481_4225099813650759632_n

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

Sam and Landon Tilema dorado tags small 7-14

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.

debbie dorado tags small 8-14

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!

roosterfish wayne tags 8-14 small

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.

carrol dick dorado small tags 7-14

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.

Norm Fulco tags 7-14 small tags

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.

dorado don white tags small 7-14

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

pargo tags small rob 7-14

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!

dorado rogelio tags small 7-14

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.

whaleshark tags small 7-14

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.”

 

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 11-18, 2014

Rick rooster 5-14 tags

This is the “beast of the week.” With a rooster estimated by Captain Jorge and others as in the “80-85 pound class,” our amigo, Rick Kasper, who has caught lots of big fish with us, shows off his biggest and best with this huge rooster that he caught and released just off the beach at Las Arenas.

rooster mauricio 2 tags small 5-14

Nice way to celebrate a honeymoon! All the way from Argentina, Mauricio Ohashi, nailed this gigantic roosterfish on a live ladyfish near Punta Arenas with an assist from Captain Gerardo who helps hoist the big fish. Mauricio caught and released two of these giants on this particular day.

Felix Williams dorado tags small 5-14

First timer with us, Felix Williams from Ladera Heights, CA near Los Angeles fished a few days with us and got into a nice jag of dorado one day when the dorado went off outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

rooster don swenson 5-14 small tags

Don Swenson from Washington State really wanted a roostefish and had one day to take a shot at it. He set him up to go out on one of our Tailhunter pangas and they hooked up 6 roosters and got 3 roosters to the panga that were all released. Here’s one of the nice ones!

rooster scott 5-14 small tags

Scott Behnken is all smiles with Captain Jorge hidden behind the comb of Scott’s biggest roosterfish caught off the beach at Las Arenas. He was using live bait to get the fish. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

Gallo Ron Lawver tags 5-14

Ron Lawver from Phoenix AZ hung in there during a tough week of fishing and never ever stopped laughing and smiling. He caught and released this rooster just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

rooster todd olson tags small 5-14

He finally got one! From Washington, Todd Olson hefts a big fat roosterfish that’s as thick as it is long! It’s the fish he came to get and it turned out to be a trophy!

Pompano victor small tags 5-14

Yes…there’s other fish around! Captain Victor poses with a huge pompano, related to roosterfish, jack crevalle, yellowtail and amberjack caught by clients just off the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

 

ROOSTERFISH HAVE STRONG SHOWING PICK UP FISHING SLACK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 11-18, 2014

 

I can’t say fishing is great or even good, but by the same token, I wouldn’t say it’s bad either.  It’s just “different.”  Quite a few happy anglers but the catch just isn’t what we usually see right now.

I will say one thing, that even with the gigantic full moon this week, it was better than I expected.

If you’re confused…

The rooster fish bit solidly all week and they were some spectacular fish.  Every day we got 30-60 pounders and many were lost and happily all of the fish were released swimming away strongly!  For many of our folks, it was their first rooster or, their biggest rooster, or in some situations, they weren’t even expecting anything big and, as luck would have it, they tied into some trophy roosters!

As well, we had some better action on dorado with some of the larger fish we’ve seen this early in the season and some legit 25-35 pound bulls taken at both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet.  I will say this.  Toward the end of the week water temperatures jumped.  The plankton that has been coloring the waters green burned off.  Waters turned blue and cleared up in so many places.  And with it…the dorado bite surely seemed to get stronger.  We’ll keep an eye on it and hopefully this is a sign of continuing better fishing!

On other fronts… wahoo season has been rocking along nicely.  Normally, we don’t see many wahoo until about this time of the year, but we’ve had a steady wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island now for 2 or 3 months!  There’s some quality 20-50 pound fish out there and other “grandes” that never made it to the boat.

Air temps are in the low 90’s with some Santa Ana style warm breezes blowing.  Several days the winds were pretty strong affecting fishing.  Water is a bit off color either because of the winds or because of plankton in the water but as mentioned above, clarity and visibilty  have improved rapidly .  A few more degrees warmer and it’ll all burn off.

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, 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 Sportfishing La Paz for Week of April 20-27, 2014

Taylor Murphey wahoo small 4-14

We got into some wahoo this week and we’re not surprised that young Taylor Murphy fishing with grandpa Roger Thompson got one of them. She always does well. A purple Rapala off the south end of Cerralvo Island did the trick.

Karyn Jennings fish on beach 4-14-proc

Birthday girl! Karyn Jennings was fishing with her husband Greg and had a good birthday week with us in La Paz. Here she shows off a day’s catch with a great mix of dorado, cabrilla and wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. A good bunch of fillets was cooked up at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Karyn is from Colorado.

Dorado Steve Bradley small tags 4-14

First timer, Steve Bradley who lives in Northern California on the Smith River was out with Tailhunter Captain Pancho and got his first dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. He also got his first rooster, a 30 pounder that was released and lost a larger fish as well.

Wahoo john nagy 4-14 tags

John Nagy from Marina del Ray CA slips quietly in and out’ve La Paz and just nails the fish! I think he got our largest wahoo of the week with this 4- pounder off the south side of Cerralvo Island on a blue and white Rapala. He was fisihing with our Tailhunter driver, Esteban and they also got one other wahoo,  2 pargo, and released a marlin. Nicely done!

 

yellowtail Jenny Raul tags 4-14 small

Yup…still a few lingering yellowtail around in the cooler water. Jenny celebrates with Captain Raul from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and shows off this big slugger forktail caught near Espirito Santo Island. Jenny is from Colorado.

KLING Ron dorado small tags 4-14

Captain Victor “El Jefe” from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet poses with first-timer, Ron Kling from Byers, Colorado who came down to catch his first roosterfish. On this particular day, he got 5 roosters between 40 and 50 pounds which he released! And he kept this nice dorado for dinner!

Greg Jennings 4-14 tags

Guys come for years trying to get a sniff from a wahoo fishing our area. Greg Jennings nailed one his first try fishing with our Taihunter Las Arenas fleet just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.




 

FISHING SLOWLY GETS BETTER WITH WARMER TEMPS

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

 

There were good and there were bad things about this past week of fishing.  Let’s start with the bad.

There were some really windy days.  Some cooler water temps.  But those things are to be expected this time of year when things are in transition between the warm and colder seasons.  Still, it didn’t always make for the best fishing conditions nor, did it help with getting bait.  Basically, it’s almost like a chart…the higher the wind, the poorer the fishing.  The lower the wind, the better the fishing.   Overall, I’d give this week a so-so rating in terms of fishing.  It’s been worse.  But, normally, it’s a whole lot better.

But, let’s focus on some of the positives.

Take a look at some of this week’s photos.  Yup…wahoo made a nice surprising reappearance this week.  Around the north and sound end of Cerralvo Island, the speedy skinnies were around and willing to eat slow trolled Rapalas and bait.  Sizes ranged from pinky 15 pounders up to about 40 pounds.

Additionally, we had a really great week on the roosters for our Las Arenas anglers.  I think just about everyone who really wanted to check “rooster fish” off the bucket list got at least one.  I don’t have any photos this week because, with much appreciation, all the roosters were released!  But, there were some nice quality fish taken off the sandy beach areas with fish in the 20-45 pound size and some larger that were lost.

To the good stuff, add in a few marlin coming alive and taking some hits, but all of them coming off plus the dorado were still around although not in big numbers as previous weeks.  I still consider the dorado to be our bread-and-butter fish at the moment.  Both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet had dorado as their predominant go-to fish.  Some decent 20 pounders in the mix, but some larger fish lost to pilot error!

Hope the winds slow down and the bait gets better!  Should all improve as we move closer to summer!

That’s our story!

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.”

 

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »