MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK of JUNE 25-July 2, 2017
WEEK AT A GLANCE (Scale of 1-10 being best)
Weather – 7 (sunny and warm low 90’s / humid at times/ some breezes)
Water – 2 (some places dropped of cold / other places got warm and algae bloom started – see red tide below)
Fishing – 2 (at best)
Catching – 2 (when fishing is bad to begin with PLUS you lose fish…that hurts!!)
THE BIG PICTURE FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK
Victor Higerada from Texas with one of the larger dorado of the week and Captain Jorge.
Washington in the house and always smiles when Michele Conklin visits us. She can fish too! She took this hefty yellow snapper on a rough day out’ve Las Arenas.
The start of summer vacation for Micah Sybesma who came down with his dad and took this nicer dorado fishing north from La Paz.
Our good buddy, Rex Smith, who has been with us so many years looks a bit tired and that’s because he is! He battled this big roosterfish and couldn’t lift it for the photo! He did, however, get it back into the water and honestly, told me he was just trying to keep the fish still so it wouldn’t beat itself up so he could release it. Well done!
Sam Sybesma in the center with a nice group shot. Sam has fished with us many time but for John Slager, Geoff Wilkinson, Micah Sybesma and AJ Wilkinson, their first dorado! Nice shot!
The Basadre guys got themselves a nice handful of fish with some nice cabrilla and a jack crevalle! They’re from Long Beach. It’s Felix and his son, David!
Darrell Manginelli and Rob Bogartz started off their week with a couple of dorado.
A hat trick mix of fish for Captain Jorge in the center with an amberjack. Victor Higerada on the left has a football yellowfin tuna and Ed Martinez on the right has a dorado.
Double dorado! Micah on the right and AJ on the left with their first dorado ever!
A fish to match the outfit! It was great having Jeff Swift and his family fishing with us. He’s got a dorado on the gaff just off the island.
Jack crevalle might not be great eating, but they are tough fighers and here in Mexico they are called “Toros.” That’s Spanish for “bull” which is a good name. Darrell Manginelli had his hands full with this big jack!
FISHING FALLS APART
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 25-July 2, 2017
Just when I thought we had turned the corner and the season was “ON!” And being so high on the fishing a week ago, we got slapped back this week with some of the worst fishing I have ever seen. Fishing literally went into the tank. The waters turned into the Sahara desert in terms of life!
It was a combination of a number of things. And what a crazy mix and just a bad combination of weather conditions.
Hurricane Dora way way way to the south of us that skirted far down and quickly went out west to the Pacific. It didn’t bring rain. It didn’t bring clouds. The skies remained sunny and hot. In fact, humidity got up to 80% one morning when I was putting out the boats. But, what it did bring was upwelling and swells of cold water that dropped water temperatures 5-10 degrees! Not only did the waters turn from blue to green, but I think the fish were just in shock like when your hot water turns off in the shower or your neighbor flushes the head and you get a jolt of cold water. The fish went lockjaw.
Hurricane Dora this past week way to the south of us, but it pushed some colder upwellings towards us that affected the fishing.
On top of that we had several days of winds that gusted here…but not there…and there…but not here. One place flat as a pond but several miles away white-capping waves that again, didn’t do much for clearing up the water.
(We’re told pretty much all of Southern Baja from La Paz to the East Cape to Cabo were hurting this week for fishing…not just us!. We were getting calls and e-mails from folks in the other areas asking if our fishing was any better because they wanted to come up to fish.)
This is what red tide looks like and the algae bloom goes off and gets so thick it’s like a soup. Algae blooms deplete the water o oxygen.
Algae soup!
The biggest issue was a red tide that really put the slammer on everything. This result from…of all things…warm water that sets off a massive algae bloom that gets so out-of-hand and so thick that waters can looks “red” or “rusty” in places but surely cloudy and filmy and dirty. In fact, local restaurants are warned not to use local shellfish during a red-tide and for fishing, the algae bloom chokes the oxygen out’ve the water and in some cases like shallow bays kills off marine life.
So, fish just disappeared. We busted our butts and clients worked hard, but limits of dorado went down to looking for a single dorado bite. Fish we saw, weren’t interested in eating. Or, the waters were just empty.
We got a dorado here and there. We lost the occasional wahoo. Pargo and and cabrilla and triggerfish were still in the rocks if that’s what you wanted. A few jack crevalle and rooster fish. But that was it!
Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, we’ll have swung around again. Things change fast. The thing with the algae blooms is that the warm water that creates will suddenly kill it off as the temperatures continue to climb. Then, the waters turn blue. Fingers crossed.
TAILHUNTER OUTREACH
Thank for the big hearts guys! Donations last week went to the Care for Kids Program. This week, thanks to Geoff Wilkinson and Sam Sybesma for their donations and also, Felix Basadre and his sons Dave and Tony who hauled down two full ice chests of clothes that will go to the women’s shelter. (I’m sorry I didn’t get your photos!) Muchas gracias, guys!
Have a great week everyone!
That’s my story!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Lots of reasons to love this great photo! First…nice roosterfish just off the beach! Second…Claire Swift’s big smile on her first roosterfish that she REALLY came down to catch! Third…in 20 years of working for us, Captain Arcangel rarely smiles for the camera although he’s a fun guy! He’s got it going on here in this photo! They had 3 other fish that got away also! This beauty was released as well! Claire is from Dana Point CA.
Great start of the week of fishing for our great Washington friends, Grant and Carol Darby with Captain Gerardo and a nice box of dorado!
Every year, Diego Jimenez from Loveland, Colorado comes to visit us and does well. Check out the big roosterfish with Captain Pancho. The fish was released.
We call him the “Mayor.” Butch Tropez from Los Angeles brought the family to see us this year and usually makes at least one or two trips a year to come fish. He got into the dorado right off the Punta Perrico rocks just outside of Muertos Bay. Don’t have to go far for these fish!
Grant Darby from Washington has fished with us a zillion years, but got into three sizeable roosters with Captain Gerardo and said, “No mas!” These fish are a handful. All released. Grant had fun on the light tackle.
This lady can fish! Verda Boyd visits us every year and our amiga loves to fish…so much so that she left husband Tim back in the San Francisco area and came alone! He wishes he had come now after she had a full 3 days of pretty good fishing with Captain Victor!
From Colorado, Craig Weitzer was fishing with Captain Armando when he got two huge roosters . The largest got released but this one was not able to be let go, but the meat was donated. His first two roosters were beasty-fish!
Another of our regular great amigos who visits us sometimes twice a year and loves fishing with Captain Jorge, John McVey got into this week’s dorado bite.
This lady always gets her fish! Big roosterfish for Kelly Jimenez (Happy Anniversary, amiga!) with Captain Pancho. The fish was released .
Limits for our friend and first time, visitor Jeff Swift from Dana Point, who got a limit of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. (Those wily pargo and cabrilla are waiting for your next trip, Jeff!)
Carol Darby had quite a week with the dorado and also this roosterfish that’s almost as big as she is and a smiling big Captain Gerardo! They caught the fish not far off the Arenas lighthouse on light tackle. They also released the fish.
Verda Boyd has a nice variety of fish for the day with Captain Victor and Carlos including dorado, a big pompano, triggerfish, a barred pargo and a palometa! All great eating!
Captain Jorge and Diego Jimenez started his week off with some pretty dorado to fill the ice chest.
Wow! We’ve had some big needlefish this season but this one is prehistoric! Captain Rogelio helps Carol Darby (longer than she is tall!) pose with this creature!
DORADO SEASON OFFICIALLY ON…FOR AT LEAST THIS WEEK!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 17-25, 2017
It’s been a long time…several seasons actually…since I’ve been able to blow the “dorado trumpet!” After about 2 1/2 seasons where el Nino conditions kept the dorado eenie-meenie small or almost non-existent, it’s nice to have the mahi-mahi back in our waters and, while not beasts, they’re nice good-sized fun fish that kept rods bent and folks (especially first-timers) happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say these two words…”DORADO LIMITS!”
While there’s still a bit of chill and wind in the mornings, it’s warm and sunny during the day and some of the best conditions we’ve seen in awhile. I’m sure that has had a lot to do with the improved fishing. Still some bump out there, but surely better than it has been and, although I hear there’s been a crazy heat wave in much of the lower U.S. and Pacific States, it’s been a balmy 95 here most of the week.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
There’s still some big rooster fish around. There’s still wahoo around. But, our counts surely didn’t show it this week although we did get a few of each. For once, there was something else to chase and for alot of folks, the opted for fun and action chasing the dorado schools that moved in rather than spend long hours chasing the bigger home run fish like the roosters and wahoo.
The roosters we did get were in the 25-60 pound class. The wahoo…well…we lost most of them but were about 30 pounders.
The excitement focused on some of the best dorado fishing we’ve seen in ages. Not huge fish, but good respectable 8-20 pounders and we were getting limits or near limits on some days with fish being released, especially smaller or female fish! There were also some larger bulls in the 25-30 pound class as well.
Another good sign is that these dorado will wake up the billfish and sure enough there was a huge black marlin and a blue marlin hooked as well!
Still some white bonito, pompano, huge jack crevalle and pargo mixed in as well.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
Another nice mix of fish with dorado leading the way. Again, it’s been awhile since dorado have been center-stage and even a longer time since I’ve been able to say that both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets are into the fish!
Like Las Arenas, the dorado have been that nice-grade medium-sized with occasionally larger bulls and not unusual to get early limits. The issue, mostly is finding the fish. There’s still some thick cold green water muddling around the island so the idea is to find the warmer water and blue currents. It’s so markedly different you can stand in the panga and see the two waters next to each other like night-and-day.
In the inshore waters, you can have fun all day if you’re tired of chasing dorado. In the rocks we had some great…but frustrating acition…on tough pargo, cabrilla and amberjack that rocked alot our efforts!
That’s our story!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Wind – 6 (Still pesky but better than before. Messes up the fishing water)
Fishing – 5 (Decent, not great. Should be way way better for this time of year. Changes daily.)
Catching – 4 (Still losing alot of bigger fish that would change alot of things)
Bait – 4 (At best. Better in La Paz than Las Arenas)
THE BIG PICTURE!
Laura Weinholtz from Denver, Colorado was with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet near La Paz when she hooked this huge bull dorado not far from Bahia de los Muertos on a live bait. It’s the largest dorado so far of the season. She had a pretty good trip! She also got a wahoo. See photos below!
Damon Chin from Massachusetts was on his first fishing trip to La Paz and fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing and got a wahoo pretty much bigger than him on his first at-bat! He needed a hand from his buddy, Tim Mistler and Captain Gerardo who is about 6’5” tall. Fish is estimated at about 65 pounds.
Good start for the Pacific NW! Captain Arcangel with Kelly Steck from Washinton and dad, Ed, from Oregon and a nice pair of dorado to start the week!
Megan Garrison tied into this beautiful wahoo just outside of Bahia de los Muertos and got it to the panga to pose. Megan is from San Diego. Thanks to Gary Wagner for the photo. Megan was staying at his place a Rancho Costa.
Doctors in the house! Jim Good and his son, Marshall Bell, are both heart doctors from Colorado. They got a nice little adrenaline buzz off these two dorado south of Bahia de los Muertos.
What a week for Arizona cattleman, Rick Skaaler, and Captain Gerardo with another big fish. This time, a hefty roosterfish. Released.
From Park City, Utah, it was great to finally get Jim Pankow down to visit us. He scored one of the larger dorado with our La Paz fleet so far this season fishing with Captain Boli.
Captain Armando shares a smile and photo with our Denver amigos, Diane and GaryKaiser and their dorado.
Big smiles from Dr. Marshall Bell and his dad, Dr. Jim Good, who baited our first striped marlin of the season then had himself quite a stand-up battle just off the east side of Espirto Santo Island. The fish could not be released. Father and son are from Colorado.
Hard to have more fun than Katie Skaaler from Arizona who got her first wahoo with us and Captain Gerardo!
From San Diego, Karl Ferreira, only had one day to fish with us and did himself well with several dorado in the box and brought to dinner at our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!
For someone who hasn’t done alot of fishing, Laura Weinholtz had herself a dandy week of fishing including this nice wahoo with Captain Pancho.
Funny pose with Captain Jorge and amigo, Craig Weitzel, from Denver and a couple of schoolie dorado.
Good bonito action for both our fleets with several species of bonito. Anyone who doubts the feistyness of these members of the tuna family has never had one on a hook! They pull perhaps harder pound-for-pound than anything in the water. If they were only 50 pounds larger ,they’d probably yank fishermen right into the water. Captain Pancho and John Ehlers, our amigo from Colorado, with a big fat bonito!
DORADO FINALLY JOIN THE ACTION
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 11-17, 2017
Not a terribly bad week. Even with the big moon!
Good sunny weather and diminishing winds helped conditions improve although there are still some big patches of cold green water and erratic fishing patterns as the season still tries to get in gear. Some high spots. Some low spots. Every day seemed different. Hot fishing spots changed daily. Bait availability changed daily. What we caught changed daily.
It’s just traces of winter still lingering as we’re about 5-8 degrees cooler than normal as are the waters. Even my scuba divers are telling me that there’s warm “green water” up on top but then 30’ below the surface the water is clear, but icy cold! Usually, it’s just the reverse. Warmer waters are clear and colder waters are greener. There are also current lines where one side of the current is green and the other side is clear.
Apparently, fishing is erratic all over as we’re getting calls from other locations and folks staying in other areas asking how our fishing is doing!
However, overall, the best thing about the week is that the dorado look like they’re finally joining the show about 1-2 months late! The conditions we’re seeing right now are basically what we should have seen at the end of April or through May, not mid-June.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA de LOS MUERTOS FLEET
We saw more and bigger dorado than we’ve seen in a long time. Not a lot of mahi-mahi, but anything is an improvement over what we’ve had, especially over the last two years when fish averaged about 12” long! The dorado we saw this week were nicer 8-20 pounders with a few in the 25-35 pound range and it was great to see some actual schools of dorado instead of one or two free-swimmers!
Wahoo are also still around with us getting some fish in the 20-30 pound class, but also one estimated over 60 pounds. Not sure how much longer they will be around as the waters get warmer which is bringing some of the billfish into the waters as we’re seeing more sails, striped and blue marlin hanging out the the surface just waiting for the waters to kick it up a notch or two in temperature and they’ll start biting.
Not much in the way of rooster fish this week but that’s also a function of the fact that folks weren’t really chasing the in-edible rooster fish although they are a spectacular fish to catch and a real trophy. They’re not good eating so most of our clients were out chasing dorado and wahoo. But the fish we did catch were all chunky 30 pound class fish or larger.
Live bait is still an issue. Flyfishers are pretty much giving up although two of our flyfishers did see some action on sabalo and dorado. The flyfishers down here have all pretty much been fishing conventionally if they want to catch fish.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
Very very encouraging to see more dorado finally with 10-20 pound fish in the mix. Better than it has been in a long time. But, a lot of the fish are just not quite ready to go yet.
My captains are telling me the area is set to blow up. Waters are getting bluer away from the islands (still green) and there are dorado everywhere, just not yet feeding on much or not willing to take a bait or lure. But, it’s bubbling and promising to hear that there’s dorado activity that could go off soon!
Same for billfish. More and more billfish showing up and look like they could go on the chew if waters warm and clear up just a tad more .
Inshore, there’s still amberjack, pargo, snapper and cabrilla as well as triggerfish biting nicely.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Thanks to our folks who brought us donations this week for our on-going community out-reach programs. So many great things. We just sent several hundred pounds to one of the outlying La Paz communities where they have no water or electricity. This batch might be headed to the women’s shelter. But big gracias to Grant and Carol Darby, John Ehlers and his family with Laura Weinholtz his daughter; Jim and Jeff Pankow from Utah and more Colorado amigos, Diego and Kelly Jimenez plus the Ferreira Family from San Diego.
From Washington, Carol and Grant Darby with toothbrushes, toothpaste, school supplies and toys!
John Ehlers and his daughter Laura Weinholtz with school items, hygiene things and more.
Every year, they bring the big hearts. Diego and Kelly Jimenez from Colorado!
HAPPY FATHER’s DAY!
My dad is giggling as I shave him. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I miss you!
That’s our story!
Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Weather– 7 (still some wind, but not as bad as before)
Heat – 9 (cooler than normal . Sunny and near perfect beach weather)
Fishing – 6 (lots to be caught)
Catching – 3 (losing alot of fish)
Fish Quality – 6 (some big fish around but losing too many)
Outlook for the coming Week – 7 (conditions improving)
Live bait – 3 (at best)
That’s a beast of a wahoo for good amigo, Doug Oclassen, fishing with Captain Jorge. Doug got two in a row. Photo further down.
I love this photo of Katie Skaarer and Captain Gerardo and one of the largest roosters of the season! She’s a bit tired, but what a gamer! Check out how close they are to Punta Perrico. Katie is from Arizona.
First timer to visit us, Kurt Gallow from Washington and Captain Armando pulled out this big-time dog-tooth snapper.
Big smiles for Mark Jacklin and Dana Wolff from Grants Pass, Oregon who spent the week with us and got a variety of fish including Mark’s first wahoo.
The whole week, I don’t think Brad Cooper from Arizona ever stopped smiling. It was great! Just like when he caught his first roosterfish. The big fish was released.
Another big wahoo for Captain Gerardo and Rick Skaarer, who runs a cattle business in Arizona and got some nice fish this week. It was his first time visiting us at Tailhunter.
Another of our good Arizona amigos, Mike Guest, has a habit of putting wahoo into the boat and he didn’t miss on this one either!
With his first rooster, Shawn Westberg from Copperopolis, California, makes the report in this nice photo!
Captain Armando rocked it again with Bruce Eads and his first roosterfish. It’s a nice one!
Talk about a variety of great eating fish, John Shields has about a half-dozen different types of fish after a great day of action including snapper, dorado, triggerfish, cabrilla and white bonito.
One of the nicer bull dorado of the week get to pose with Charlie Rodriguez who gets an assist from Brad Cooper.
It’s Captain Armando again who got Kurt Gallow a fat wahoo on Kurt’s last day fishing with us.
The 2nd of two wahoo in a row for Doug Oclassen in this great photo! Spectacular shot!
Charlie Rodriguez and Brad Cooper had a good trip fishing together shown here with the first wahoo of their trip!
First day of fishing for Kurt and Brenda Gallow with Captain Armando produced a couple of nice dorado and a hard-charging Jack Crevalle.
Somewhere behind that dorsal fin is Mark Jacklin with his 2nd rooster of the trip. The fish was released.
FULL MOON ROOSTERS AND WAHOO LEAD OFF!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 4-11, 2017
The full moon week still had more breeze than we would like, but overall pretty fishable weather and water with a good variety of fish. We’re still a little cooler than normal and seemingly still in that “transition” phase between the cooler waters of spring and the warmer conditions of summer. The fishing reflects that with both cooler and warmer water species hitting you just never know what’s going to be biting. Live bait continues to be an issue. There’s no small sardines per se, but we’ve had big sardines, caballitos and mackerel. Still losing more fish than we’re catching which is just part of the sport! Big fish are big fish for a reason and we’re still losing fish to the rocks, teeth, inexperience or just bad luck. But, if you look at the photos there’s some awfully big fish being caught as well!
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
This is where most of the wind was all week which had our pangas mostly fishing on the lee side of Espirito Santo Island to get away from the winds. But that was fine because inshore and up tight against the rocks, we got a great variety from dorado to amberjack and pargo to big triggerfish.
Some of the cabrilla and pargo were especially nice grade horses that the anglers were able to get out’ve the rocks, but so many others were simply unstoppable. If the winds would just give us a break, water conditions are really looking better and better and sargasso weeds are building up which should be a good sign for better dorado fishing. Also, we’ve got some nice live bait every day.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
This is where our big boy fishing has been. There’s no small fish for our anglers that fished with our Las Arenas Fleet. Just like the last several weeks, it’s big or go home. Hit a home run or strike out. There’s no small toy fish.
You get one or two shots at bigger fish and that’s pretty much it, but if you do get to hang one, it’s a good fish. Larger 20-35 pound dorado; rooster fish running 20-80 pounds and wahoo in the 20-50 pound class are what we were seeing this week with a smattering of jack crevalle, bonito, some big pargo, smaller cabrilla and snapper. But those were just filler. The bigger “cooler filler” fish were the norm. Good to see better dorado too!
That’s our story!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Weather – 7 (Mid to high 80’s and sunny but can be very gusty)
Fishing– 6 (Some BIG fish out there!)
Catching – 4 (There’s some BIG fish out there…and we’re losing them!)
Bait– 4 (Work to get mackeral at Las Arenas / Better for La Paz)
Flyfishing Condition – 2 (winds + no bait to chum)
My Optimism – 6 (Getting better as these winds diminish)
THE BIG PICTURE FISHING REPORT
What a great shot! John Frederick just had a nice rooster on the flyrod, but hooked this one on bait and posed it for a great photo! Poster quality shot! John’s first time with us! John released the fish.
Triple shot of wahoo with Captain Victor with Mike and Chris Wilbur from Kansas. WOW!
Happy guy, Taylor Westberg’s first rooster is a slug! Right off the lighthouse at Las Arenas! Taylor is from Copperopolis CA and visted us for the first time. Taylor released the fish.
Her first dorado! San Diego in the house with Toni Hayden. She said it was “delicious!” Caught north of La Paz by the island!
Finally checked off his bucket list, Mark Jacklin hefts up a nice roosterfish and a big smile. Mark came to visit us from Oregon. Mark released the fish to fight another day.
Taylor Westberg helps grandpa Rick with his biggest dorado. It’a a nice bull from the Las Cruces area.
Bob Lederer, from Massachusetts, has been fishing with us over 10 years and loves fishing with Captain Jorge who helped him hold up another big roosterfish. The guys let the fish go. Bravo!
Stacy Florence from Kansas with the right kind! Good wahoo for our amigo on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.
Captain Gerardo helps out our best amigo Glen Oclassen who has been fishing this area for decades and put the bend on another nice roosterfish! They released the fish.
Colton Atkinson had himself a memorable week visiting us for the first time including this colorful dorado!
One of the best eating fish around is the pompano and Robbie Shields got a couple of these big jacks!
Our San Diego amigos, John Stone and Jeff Correria with a pair of bulls with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Robbie Shields and Captain Gerardo hoist a thick heavy roosterfish. The rooster was released.
Colton Aktinson with his first roosterfish. Punta Perrico in the background. He released the fish.
Captain Adolfo with a fresh wahoo taken by Chris Jolly from Kansas on his first trip with us.
Some huge jack crevalle this week! Jeff Correria has a fat one. Tough fighters!
New Jersey, Matt Lederer, has a pretty rooster. Cerralvo Island in the background. Fish was released.
Happy Birthday, Riley Florence with his dad, Adam and Captain Pancho finally got a wahoo after 4 days on his last day!
Carson and Colton Atkinson with some fine eating dorado and triggerfish. They also released a roosterfish as well.
Dave Sundgren tries to hold up his big rooster for a proper photos so he can release it! These fish are HEAVY! Especially after you’ve been battling them!
On a roll! Captain Gerardo and Darrell Blasi with Darrell’s roosterfish just prior to releasing it! Notice how close the beach is!
That’s alot of meat! Chris Jolly and Dave Sundgren with a mess of triggerfish and a wahoo for the frosting!
Captain Gerardo was on fire this week! Two more wahoo!
Carson Atkinson with dad, Dave, and two doubles of dorado!
I just had to post this! Rick Westberg and Captain Pancho with a beast of a needlefish!
FISHING SO-SO BUT GREAT FOR WAHOO and BIG ROOSTERFISH
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 28-June, 4, 2017
Well, those winds came back on us again this week and didn’t help things. Fishing wasn’t great, but it was surely GOOD for some fish! Notably, two exotic trophy fish really lit it up for us, namely big rooster fish again and wahoo saved our week with some hefty fish; big battles; lost fish and some great excitement. The thing with this kind of fishing is that, it’s home run fishing. You get a big fish and you get one or two if you’re lucky but if you miss your fish or it’s just not your day, then there’s not much else. Big or go home. Trophys or trash. Late in the week, dorado showed up for our La Paz Fleet and that helped out a lot!
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
As mentioned, above some of the pesky winds came back on us again. Still fishable mostly, but winds hampered the ability to get bait. Just the way it is. The fishing counts directly reflected that.
Early in the week, the wahoo were hitting. These were nice 20-50 pound speedsters. Some days almost every one of our pangas had a shot and there were some really big fish too that were regretfully lost. Often, to no fault of the angler. These are just big powerful fish with sharp teeth and it’s heartbreaking to lose a big fish but that’s part of the sport and especially with these prized wahoo. I think we probably lost 60% of all the hookups and like I wrote earlier, that might be your only shot of the day. There wasn’t much else. However, the fish we did get were beauties.
Later in the week the wahoo bite tapered. The captains told me there were a lot of spear fishermen on the wahoo spots and that pretty much killed the bite.
Fortunately, the big roosters came back and we had a nice great of 25-60 pound fish. I think one day we had 9 big roosters boated among our Tailhunter Fleet. For lots of the anglers, it was their first rooster or biggest personal best fish so a good thrill.
Not much else except some bonito, cabrilla, a few pompano and snapper. Big fish or nothing. Still no sardines for small baits. Still not very good for fly fishing.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
It was erratic. When fishing was good for our Las Arenas fleet, it was slacking for our La Paz fleet and vice versa. And it all had to do with the winds. If the winds were blowing, it made it tough. Winter continues to linger!
Inshore, it was lots of big triggerfish and a number of bigger cargo and cabrilla lost in the rocks.
However later in the week, we had some decent numbers of 10-25 pound dorado come around. Some larger fish lost, but it was nice to see better numbers and a better grade of mahi-mahi finally appear.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE SHOUT OUT
This is Shawn Westberg’s gang of merry men making faces at the camera with Jill after bringing about 6 ice chests full of school supplies, sporting goods, clothes, hygiene items and more for our “Pack for a Purpose” program.
Mike Kelly and Barry Wood have been our friends for years. They also brought down a bunch of stuff for the kids…but I accidentally deleted the photo!!! Thanks guys! You’re the best!
Quick shout out to our amigos who brought stuff for our charities! The items this week went to the Women’s Shelter, the orphanage in Los Planes and will also go to some of the outlying neighborhoods of La Paz. Thanks for the big hearts, everyone!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
MEXICAN MINUTE MINI-VIDEO FISHING REPORT for WEEK of May 21-28, 2017
WEEK at a GLANCE (1-10)
Weather – 8 (what an improvement although still some wind!) But sunny and great!
Fishing – 6 (better than it has been all season, but lots of room to get better)
Catching – 5 (only because we lost so many darned good fish!)
Quality of Fish – 7 (Wahoo / big roosters / big cabrilla and pargo/ lost marlin and tuna)
Bait – 1 (Las Arenas almost non-existent) . 4 (La Paz not bad but not great)
THE BIG PICTURE AND REPORT
Largest pargo liso of the season and one of the largest we’ve seen in a long time for Oregon amigo, Cody Johnson and Captain Pancho.
Captain Armando went out with Dwayne and Debbie Petenaude from the San Diego Anglers Fishing Club that’s here with us this week and put this beast wahoo in the boat!
Scott Damron from Oregon was the un-questioned roosterfish king of the week with 5 or 6 huge roosterfish (I lost count!) taken that averaged 60-80 pounds! All released like this big boy with a hand from Captain Pancho.
From Huntington Beach CA, first-timer with Tailhunter Sportfishing Mark Garrity and his wahoo with Captain Gerardo.
Great mix of eating fish for Dave Codding from Idaho and Captain Armando including big triggerfish, a dorado and some nice pargo.
Our good amigo, Tom Mullican from Idaho finally put a wahoo in the box after getting bit off or losing several during the week. With Captain Jorge!
Another huge roosterfish for the Damron family! Dale Damron used to be a charter captain in Oregon and is all smiles with Captain Pancho for another catch-and-release giant roosterfish.
Paul Markowitz had only one day to fish with us, but hit a homerun with this wahoo. Paul is from Idaho.
Kyle Monsrud really wanted to get a roosterfish and got this beauty fishing out of Las Arenas with our Tailhunter fleet. Kyle is from Portland and released the fish.
Gorgeous bull dorado for Mark Garrity of Huntington Beach CA. One of our largest dorado so far. We are seeing more and more dorado this season! He was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleeet north of town.
Good eating meat with this trophy cabrilla taken by Kirk Petre from Colorado who pulled this nice fish outta the rocks north of La Paz.
Captain Arcangel with the Duffy boys from New York with quite a variety including red snapper, dorado and wahoo.
Deanna Damron with Captain Adolfo had just hooked and fought a huge roosterfish but came up short, but right after, hooked this big old barred pargo.
Kyle and Holli Monsrud from Portland with a handful including a big bull dorado and a huge jack crevalle while fishing with our La Paz fleet.
Another nice wahoo on the first try! New York in the house!
Is this a big needlefish or what? Captain Adolfo gives Deanne Damron a hand with this monster!
Well-done Kyle! A good week for some big dorado like Kyle’s bull here.
WINDS LAY DOWN AND FISH WAKE UP!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 21-28, 2017
What a difference a week makes and what a difference in the fishing when the winds give us a break! For weeks, we’ve been lamenting the winds and how it affected the fishing, but we finally got the winds to dial-it-back for the most part and although fishing wasn’t WFO, or even great, it was 500% better than it has been with lots of variety and big fish. I think this week I saw over a dozen different species caught including wahoo, tuna, marlin, roosterfish, several species of pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, pompano, sierra, several species of bonito, triggerfish, snapper and more! You just never knew what you were going to hook up!
LAS ARENAS TAILHUNTER FLEET
Usually, this is the area where we get the most action and the most variety, but that just wasn’t the case this past week. This is where the bigger fish were hanging out! We must have lost 4 out’ve every 5 wahoo hooked up. Early in the week, I don’t think we landed a single wahoo and it wasn’t until later in the week when the guys started putting some ‘hoo into the pangas and not losing so many. In their defense, these are fast powerful fish with sharp teeth, but it would have been nice to land a few more!
We also got some huge roosterfish. The average rooster ran about 60 pounds this week with a number of fish in the 80 pound class. These were beasts and you had to catch the big foot-long ladyfish to use for bait. There’s a reason we’re called the roosterfish capital of the world.
We also hooked some striped marlin and rounded things out with bonito, triggerfish and some jack crevalle, reef fish and dorado. One of our guys had on a 50-pound tuna lost at color after about a 30 minute battle as well!
This was the best fishing we’ve seen in the area all year. Nothing spectacular by our standards, but any improvement was welcome. It can only get better. We did have one day where the winds blew our folks all over the place but they still caught fish. But, mostly this is bigger fish we’re seeing. So, you either get big fish and hit home run, or you don’t do so well. There’s not a lot of “in-between” action right now. If you chase roosterfish or wahoo or marlin, if you get one, you’re a hero. But you could also be one of the boats that gets goose-egged.
The biggest issue is bait. For all intents and purposes, there’s no live bait to be had so we’re using dead bait. We are selling bags of fresh frozen mackerel in the mornings and some of the guys are bringing fresh dead squid as well.
Fly fishing is a non-issue. We’ve had a handful of flyfishers this season, but they’ve done OK because they were also willing to use conventional gear and have some fun. Some of the fly fishing only outfitters in town are really hurting. If you’re coming with a flyrod, be ready to use conventional gear and you’ll have a good time. Bring the flyrod just-in-case the opportunity presents itself, but not only has it been pretty breezy to throw the rod, but also with no live bait to chum with, it’s hard to get the fish to come up.
Conditions are improving so have our fingers crossed and like I said, this was the best consistent bite we’ve seen.
LA PAZ TAILHUNTER FLEET
Normally, this is where the larger fish are found and the variety is over at Las Arenas. It’s been just the opposite this past week with fishing steadily improving as the week went on!
We got into some nicer dorado…in fact, some of the nicest dorado we’ve seen in two seasons. Plus there were big cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish and snapper to be had as well. Really some nice action and just like at Las Arenas, regretfully so many big fish lost, especially in the rocks. I think we lost about 60% of the hookups to inexperience of to rocks. But, still fun.
My captains are telling me the conditions are looking great. There were places where dorado and marlin were jumping everywhere, but just weren’t ready to chew quite yet. There’s sargasso weed building up everywhere which is a great sign for more dorado. They say it’s just about ready to bust loose if the water temps edge up just a degree or two more!
Hopefully soon!
That’s our story!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT for WEEK of MAY 14-21, 2017
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE (SCALE of 1-10)
Weather – 7 if you like sunshine. 2 if you like wind
Water – 8 if you’re from a cold place. 3 if you’re fishing. (colder than normal)
Fishing – 3 at best . (read below…it’s worth it!)
Fish Catching – 3 at best . (keep reading…it’s really worth it!)
Happy fella! What a day for the Damron family from Oregon! BIG ROOSTERS! Scott Damron got FOUR huge fish. Dad Dale and cousin Cody nailed another TWO! All fish SIX released strong! Several others broke off!
Former Oregon charter captain, Dale Damron and nephew Cody Johnson caught and released two big roosterfish off the Las Arenas lighthouse and had another bust off.
First-time Arizona amigo, Dan Cherry caught two of the larger dorado of the season fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city near El Coyote.
Brian Hoff had a good day pulling cabrilla out’ve the rocks! Nice chunks of the fish ended up getting grilled up at our Tailhunter Restaurant.
Another of Scott Damron’s four big roosterfish on the same day. The Las Arenas lighthouse in the background. All fish released.
Big smiles for Dan Cherry and another big cabrilla.
Dan Cherry and Betty Woods posing with more of their cabrilla.
BUT WAIT…LOOK WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST DAY! Just as I was going to print!
Nice pair for first -timer Mike Miller and return Tailhunter tribe amigo, Dave Codding and some sweet mahi mahi meat and Captain Armando!
Our buddy, Tom Ames, with Captain Jorge and some of the largest dorado we’ve seen this year! Tom is from Idaho and has fished with us several times over the years. Always good to have him back!
Tom Mullican, our amigo from Idaho who fishes with us several times a year and is about as hard-core as they come, with another dorado!
Brent and Amy Hyde from Montana with their first dorado fishing with Captain Victor!
Captain Ramiro got his guys from the Hoppa Group into the dorado too!
TOUGH WINDS – TOUGH CURRENTS – TOUGH FISHING…(Until the last day!)
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 14-21, 2017
Winter just won’t let go. Just like in so many spots in the U.S. where winter continues to cling or come back and brought snow, winds and rain this past week, we’re just as affected down here in La Paz. We had viscious winds early in the week that forced us to cancel two days with our Las Arenas fleet and fish everyone out’ve La Paz. Even when the winds diminished, it was still breezy and left us with green water and strong currents that made fishing difficult, unpredictable and with areas of green cold water.
The result, generally speaking, made for some difficult fishing. Strong current made it tough to get bait. When we did have live bait, the fishing areas changed from one place to the other. A spot that was hot one way would go totally slack the next day. Areas that were like a desert one day without any sign of life would suddenly hop with fish. An area that was blowing wind and choppy would be calm the in an hour and areas that were flat calm would suddenly be buffeted by double-digit gusts of winds. I think even the fish are confused!
Having our two fleets in two different areas helped because we tried to remain flexible to move folks to whatever fleet was doing better, but Mother Nature always has the last word and all we can do is make educated guesses.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET
It was one of the more difficult weeks in the early season for this area. The first two days, of the week, it was again blowing so hard, we couldn’t even get in the pangas. Just not worth it. When we did get out, the currents were rolling so strong and fast that we had trouble getting any live bait. Even the commercial guys couldn’t catch any to sell.
We got some sierra, bonito and hooked a few dorado and that was pretty much it. Scratchy fishing at best.
Then, later in the week, conditions came together better and we rebounded with some of the best roosterfish of the season with some big trophy fish in the 30-80 pound class right off the sand at the Punta Arenas lighthouse. All the fish caught on big live ladyfish (sabalo).
Some billfish were also hooked as striped marlin and sailfish seemed to finally wake up.
LA PAZ TAILHUNTER FLEET
This is the area that had been really scratchy the last few weeks while the better fishing had been at Las Arenas.
However, true to form, everything flip-flopped this week! We actually had far better fishing north of La Paz.
Early in the week!
Near the islands and outcroppings we hit some big cabrilla and pargo. Lost even more big fish in the rocks including yellowtail and amberjack. Made up for it with good action on big triggerfish and fat bonito. Not great fishing, but decent action and a lot of fish lost! And we also have live mackerel and big sardines which makes a difference.
Around the peninsula near Coyote and Las Cruces we found some schools of 15-25 pound early season dorado! Some of the largest dorado that we’ve seen all year.
Then late in the week, things flipped again. Strong currents shut down the bite. And things went slack again. Just as the Las Arenas fleets started to find fish!
It’s a guessing game every week.
BREAKING NEWS!!!! (SEE THE DORADO PHOTOS ABOVE!)
Go figure. Just as I was going to print with the weekly report, our La Paz fleet turned in some big cabrilla, lots of action on triggers and other great reef fish . BUT WHOA!!!! Suddenly DORADO go off for our Las Arenas Fleet at Muertos Bay! Best dorado bite of the season and larger than any dorado we generally saw last year!
So, just when I’m whining….Mother Nature has another laugh on me! SUNDAY was a good day of fishing! We were due!
A WORD ABOUT FLYFISHING
We really haven’t had many flyfishers yet this season and generally most of our flyfishers don’t come in until later. But, we’re good friends with some of the flyfishing outfitters who don’t live here, but come to town for a a month or two and bring only flyfishers to fish here.
With all the winds and lack of bait, they’re not doing well. Several are canceling parts of their season or seeing a big drop off in their bookings. Or their fishermen are having to fish conventionally. These are outfitters who ONLY do flyfishing.
If you’re coming with a flyrod, my suggestion, as it has always been is to bring the flyrod, but be ready to fish conventionally. Have fun. We don’t mind if you grab one of our conventional rods or bring your own. If the opportunity presents itself, by all means throw the flies. But, if not, there’s no sense in just sitting in the panga bored or wearing out your arms.
Early indications show it’s not going to be a great flyfishing season so I’d rather be honest than blow smoke and mirrors at you.
Have a great week!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT VIDEO for May 7-14, 2017
WEEK AT A GLANCE (1-10 with 10 being best)
Weather– 4 (Sunny, but so windy the early in the week we had to cancel trips)
Fishing – 4 (when the winds weren’t blowing there was action…when it was blowing not so much)
Fishing Quality – 4 (When we could fish there were some bigger grade yellowtail and other species available, but big fish are hard to put in the boat and some really big fish were lost too!)
THE BIG PICTURE
Wow! You don’t see many of these around unless maybe you’re diving! Jessica McPartin of San Diego caught quite the grouper just inside of Bahia de Los Muertos near La Paz in the shallow waters by the reef point fishing with Captain Hugo.
Kevin Shiotani of Thousand Oaks CA has a reputation everytime he comes to La Paz to fish several times a year. He put this huge horse yellowtail in the boat fishing out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos.
One of the best eating fish in our waters! Megan Richman poses with a beautiful cabrilla taken off the rocks just south of Bahia de los Muertos. She was staying at Rancho Costa there.
Winds were down! Lee Hance with a hand from Captain Victor got himself bookends of nice yellowtail today. Lee is from Colorado.
Daniel Shay from San Diego doing it the fun way. Standup on light tackle throwing a popper with his spinning rod rocks an awesome butt-kick jack crevalle! Well done!
I’m told this is Jessica McPatin again with another cabrilla. Kinda hard to tell! But yes, it’s a cabrilla!!!
More nice yellowtail for Megan and friends! Thanks for Rancho Costa and Gary Wagner for the photo again! Bahia de Los Muertos in the background.
MIXED WEATHER – MIXED FISHING
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 7-14, 2017
A bit of an up-and-down week for weather and fishing with the two directly related to each other this past week. Winds were back up, especially during the early part of the week. They weren’t just up. They were strong enough that fleets either canceled boats or boats had to come back to shore. Fortunately, we didn’t have too many folks early in the week or they had enough vacation time so that they could make up the lost days later in the week when the winds diminished…somewhat.
Weather otherwise was pretty nice…except for the winds. Sunny and warm with highs in the high 80’s. Nightime lows in the mid-to-high-70’s.
On the days we got out, the bite was mixed. Again, we’re in that transition time between cooler and warmer conditions so the water conditions and the fish species are all over the map. Most of the catch this week reflected cooler water species since the winds generally kept the fishing closer to shore.
Some nice yellowtail popped taken on live bait or jigs. Schools of bonito and jack crevalle always made for great action. Along the reefs, we got into snapper, cabrilla and pargo and hooked (but lost) some larger amberjack. We saw a few marlin that weren’t quite ready to feed yet. Commercial fishermen saw some fast-moving schools of tuna and we did hook a few smaller bonito.
Forecast for the coming week show some slowing down of the winds, but there’s still some forecast for double-digit breezes and gusts.
That’s our story! Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day and thank to all you mom’s out there!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Fishing Quality – 4 (not many big fish but we are seeing them!)
Fishing Quantity – 6 (lots of action on smaller to medium fish)
Weather – 7 (Sunny but windy and not too hot)
THE BIG PICTURE FISHING REPORT
Raquel Johnson from Phoenix AZ on her first trip to La Paz only had one day to fish and scored this nice rooster right off the rocks just outside Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Victor for the Tailhunter Sportfishing Fleet. The fish was released.
Robin Weber from Washington lives in La Paz for part of the year and was trolling a Rapala behind his 75’ sailboat not too far offshore this huge yellowtail slammed him! Between trying to control a sailboat under full sail and battling the big fish he had his hands full, but finally got the fish to gaff. Estimated over 50 pounds.
Hefty barred pargo for our amigo, Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa in Muertos Bay.
Ben Lindell from La Grande, Oregon on his first trip to La Paz was fishing in Bahia de los Muertos with the Tailhunter Fleet and ran into a thick school of amberjack in the shallows and pulled several out on light tackle as well as big triggerfish!
Gary Wagner helps out Jen Wilson from Colorado with a sunset biter of a big jack crevalle.
WINDS BACK UP BUT GOOD VARIETY AT MUERTOS
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 1-7, 2017
Weather is warming and a great time to be in La Paz this past week, but lingering winds made fishing difficult in some areas and during various parts of the day.
LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS
This is where we had everyone fishing this week. With the winds back up, it was easier to send folks here where fishing was closer to shore; there was variety and action (especially with so many one-time fishermen this week); and there was more protection for the winds.
We had some shots at yellowtail and there were some tuna boils, but none of the bigger game fish showed up. But, also we had quite a few folks just fishing either for the first time or they just had one day and we wanted them to have some fun and action rather then trying for home runs.
So, we did get into some nice variety.
There were some spots of smaller dorado. In the structures, we found some nice schools of amberjack, pargo and cabrilla. Closer to the beaches, pompano and jack crevalle offered some tough battles as well as sierra.
Roosterfish in the 10-40 pound class were found off the shore breaks and in the rocky areas around Punta Perrico.
Another indication that the waters are warming and the season is changing is that there’s marlin starting to show up. They’re not quite ready to bite yet, but we did get one hooked this week and others were seen.
LA PAZ
Not much to report. As stated above, it was easier to just have everyone fish out’ve Las Arenas this past week. With winds coming from the north and blowing up whitecaps and chop, it was too exposed to fish comfortably. Nice to have two fleets so that we could move folks over to Las Arenas and still catch fish! It’s supposed to be fun, not an exercise in staying dry and keeping your kidneys from rattling! No one seemed to mind when we moved them!
That’s our story
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT for WEEK of April 24-May 1, 2017
I’m a bit rusty as it’s been 4-months since my last video, but if you’re short on time, here it is in a nutshell! Forgive my verbal stumbling!
PAST WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Pretty windy at times. Sunny. Daytime temps high 70’s to low 80’s. Nights high 60’s.
Water – Mostly blue and clear but choppy from winds some days.
Fishing: 5 on a scale of 10. Good action on bonito. Big fish, but many lost. Yellowtail surprised us.
THE BIG PICTURE
Attaching photo of Patty Killian’s big amberjack. She and Tracy Chung were with Capt. Chito and she fought the fish for a long time . As the fish got to the boat and was right next to it, the hook just came out. Simply came out of the mouth. The fish was flapping on the surface and quick thinking Chito when he realized that moved fast with a long reach and gaffed it quick as it was swimming away from the boat on the surface. You can see where he barely got the gaff in near the tummy. Chito and Patty rocked it. She’s from Portland.
Paul Nagata has some fun with his yellowtail along with buddy Michi Nakota and Captain Pancho who has a big pompano to go along with the forktails. The amigos are from San Francisco.
Now THIS is a big yellowtail because Paddi is 6’5″ and this is a horse of a fish! Caught at the north end of Cerralvo using jigs and fishing with Captain Hugo.
Always cracking up! Jeff Killian from Oregon poses with his nice yellowtail on the beach at Muertos.
From Colorado, Jeff Ferguson, holds a huge sierra! Jeff was staying at the Rancho Costa in Muertos. Thanks for the shot, Gary!
You know the sierra are big when they’re almost…not quite…as big as the yellowtail! Michi Nakota and Paul Nagata have some good eating in store!
Big smiles for Angie Meehan from Montana who just had one day to fish driving up from Cabo San Lucas and had a big jack crevalle to show off plus hooking other fish for her first time on salt water!
Captain Armando and Jeff Killian showing off some of the big sierra we had this week near Muertos.
First yellowtail is a fine one for Michi Nakota getting a hand on the gaff from our buddy, Paul Nagata.
Angie Meehan again from Montana holds up her sierra. She had two dorado on the line, but got away.
John Chung, Captain Armando and Jeff Killian had a pretty good day on the water with some hefty yellowtail and three others got off!
Roosterfish for Jen Wilson from Colorado right inside of Bahia de los Muertos. Caught and released!
If you know how to fish iron, here’s some samples of the iron that worked this week on the yellowtail, but most of the fish were caught on mackerel which are abundant right now.
WIND BACK BUT SO ARE THE YELLOWTAIL!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 24-May 1, 2017
Just when I thought the winter winds were finally behind us and we were forward into the warmth of the season, Mother Nature came up with a (hopefully) final reminder that she can do what she wants and is entitled to be fickle. After several really nice weeks we were into double-digit winds again for the better part of the week, mostly coming up in the mornings (ugly) then at night (nice…to cool things down).
It was still sunny and a great place to be for vacation, but it did make for some really rough fishing some days.
By the same token, just when it looked like we were into our “warm water species” it was like the clock turned backwards a month or two. Not a terribly bad thing because we still got some really nice fish. But they were the cooler water fish that we hadn’t seen in awhile.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS BAY FLEET
What I said above was probably best reflected in our catch this past week from Muertos Bay and working around Cerralvo Island.
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen more and more warm water species like tuna, wahoo and such. Barely any cold water species!
Well, I’m not sure what happened. As mentioned, the winds did come back but the water surface temperatures stayed pretty warm about 72-75 degrees. All I can think of is that maybe the turbulence brought up some of the deeper cooler waters from down below so there was a sub-surface thermocline that caused the cold water species to come up and get active.
For sure, not much in the way of the bluewater fish (a few dorado) but holy cow…we got big yellowtail all of a sudden! Maybe our best yellowtail week of the year and this is already MAY! This is what we should have been catching in March! These yellowtail were 20-40 pound slugs and we probably lost 3 times as many as were caught. Many went right back to the rocks or simply busted off for other reasons.
Areas at both the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island produced fish willing to eat mackerel, squid, Rapalas and jigged iron. They also showed up just off the rocky areas at Punta Perico and Castillo near the Arenas lighthouse. These are heavy, healthy powerful fish and the same areas produced pargo and cabrilla as well. Generally fish we associate with cooler water fishing!
It was’t wide open and it wasn’t every day and some boats struggled ever day despite best efforts from the captains and anglers themselves, but there were quality fish to be found.
In addition, we had some of the largest sierra I have seen in a long time. These were thick long and more like baby wahoo than big mackerel! Great eating and we just haven’t seen many of them all season until this week. There’s also lots of bonito for action including white bonito which are great eating and have a soft pink meat not unlike their big cousin tuna.
Some rooster fish around, but hard to tell since not many folks are fishing for them right now and are chasing the more edible fish.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
For our La Paz Fleet fishing straight north out’ve the bay and around Espirito Santo Island, they were most affected by the winds which come mostly from the north making it a rough rough trip to the fishing grounds then getting bounced around until the winds settle down in the day.
There’s a few dorado around, but most of the focus was on the yellowtail and amberjack around the island with a number of big fish lost, but some really nice amberjack in the 30-60 pound class caught. A few rooster fish around mixed with pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Thanks for Paul Nagata and Michi Nakota who hauled down an ice chest full of school supplies, dental supplies and medical things for our charities! Thanks, guys!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR Top 5 – Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Tailhunter Fish Report 