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Posts Tagged ‘muertos bay’

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

Posted in Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

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

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

THUNDERSTORMS AND SUNSHINE MIX WITH DORADO AND OTHER SPECIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 5-12, 2012

Posted in Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Not bad for a quick morning of fishing! TV Show host and actor, Rick Kasper from California and his amigo, Scott Behnken, all the way from Ohio on his first-ever Baja fishing trip knocked out the yellowfin tuna off Las Arenas. Hopefully, the tuna season is going to kick into gear full turbo soon! It’s that time of the year. To see more of Rick and Scott, check out this week’s video clip below!

The tuna were elusive this week, but the one day that Joe Fuschetti fished Las Arenas he found the tuna more than willing to go in a hot spot between the east side of Cerralvo Island and the 88 spot hammering nice-grade tuna like this one and back on the beach before noon. The next day, the same spot produced only a few small tuna and lots of bonito.   Joe is a high school coach in Orange Co. , California and has fished with us many times over the years.  He told me, “This was the best tuna fishing ever and my personal best tuna!”

Everytime they visit us, Jana and Lauren often outfish the guys. They come  once-a-year with brother Scott McKenzie who fishes with us several times a year from Washington. The ladies  fish every single day non-stop hardcore  and next year want a full-week of fishing!  Here,  they pose with some of the dorado they caught fishing north of La Paz.

What a great shot of a leaping striped marlin! Dan Puetz had just had full shoulder re-constructive surgery and was still nursing it but ended up with two days of pulling on fish like this one. Sore, but happy! Another shot of Dan below with one of his dorado.

Dan was supposed to fish 3 days with us, but after two solid days of pulling on dorado and marlin, he laughingly decided to put up his feet and take it easy! Here’s one of the dorado he put in the boat posed at Balandra Bay.

They have been so few and far between this year, but Joe Arata of Pacifica CA got one of the much-sought-after wahoo near Cerralvo Island this past week. All year, I think we’ve only boated about 10 wahoo. Where are they? Our divers are seeing them way way down below the thermocline. Perhaps like last year, they’re just not coming up to the surface to feed. Fingers crossed. The fall is usually prime time for the skinnies!

Our BFF from La Ventana, James “Hawk” Davis gets in the report this week showing off a slug roosterfish he slammed and then released. The big pez gallos are still out there although now that there’s sardines around, more folks are out chasing dorado and tuna. This is the type of roosterfish that made the Las Arenas/ Cerralvo Area famous!

Limits of tuna for Mike Akiyoshi and his son, Kevin, from Redondo Beach. They pose with a pair of fish but filled their box with dorado their last day fishing out’ve La Paz. Congratulations especially to Kevin…he went home and proposed to his girlfriend!

Virgil Bascos was with us for his first trip to La Paz. He was looking for tuna and didn’t do so well, the the billfish and dorado were very cooperative as she shows off one of his dorado caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

No matter the age, it’s always great to have father-son trips! Two of the funniest guys we’ve had were Paul Zech and son, Mike, who fished 3 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and stocked up on nice dorado like this one.

This lady not only like to fish…she CAN fish! Pam Sharp spent a week in our waters and blew up all kinds of fish like this trophy roosterfish off Cerralvo Island. Fish was released.

Roger Thompson has been in our fishing report so often, he’s a virtual poster-child. He makes the report again with another big rooster caught and released plus his classic fishing pose! Thanks, Roger!

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

TV Actor and host of the outdoor hunting show, “Living on the Wild Side” , Rick Kasper fished with his amigo, Scott Behnken, a few times this week and did a great little video clip for us.  Check it out above, or see it on YOUTUBE by clicking this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeeSJ474u3w&list=UUSN0xdz-El64xBXmMhl_yvg&index=1&feature=plcp

UNEVEN FISHING BUT RODS STILL BEND ON DORADO WITH TUNA STILL TEASING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 5-12, 2012

Every day fishing this past week was at best…a surprise!  I don’t want to go so far as to say it was anemic, but maybe “inconsistent” was a better word.  I guess if you wanted to fill the ice chest, dorado continued to be solid for our anglers that fished with our La Paz fleet.

But, even for our La Paz anglers, it could be frustratingly good and bad.  One day you could hammer limits and crazy good fishing and fill the fish box with dorado between 10 and 50 pounds.  The next day..same spot…same captain….same good bait…seemingly similar conditions would produce 2 fish!  With no rhyme or reason!  Fortunately, most folks fished a number of day so the good days more than made up for the off-days!  Besides the dorado there were still the occasional marlin, sailfish, roosterfish, pargo or cabrilla to round things out.

For our Las Arenas anglers, it was perhaps even more frustrating.  Lots of finger-pointing at the yellow-“fun” tuna!  They were the source of more teeth gnashing than any other fish this week.

Several days they came up live mad dogs!  Boats plugged with fish and back on the beach before noon with no more energy or space for any more tuna.  Fish from 10-50 pounds were boiling around boats in several spots near the south and east sides of Cerralvo Island.  Everyone would go crazy.  The next day…NOTHING!  Maybe a bunch of bonito but the tuna were nowhere to be found!

On the plus-side…there were some nicer dorado if you chose not to chase the tuna and there were also our usual slugger-sized roosterfish up to 65 pounds this week.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International La Paz for Week of July 1-8, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yes! Even we get to fish now and then and it was great to get on the water with Jilly for an epic day of non-stop dorado fishing where we hooked and released over 40 fish before noon! Great week of dorado fishing even with the full moon! Here, Jill ducks behind Captain Joel with another bull dorado that was thrashing around wildly before Joel released the fish!

The ladies were on fire this week! Especially alot of first timers like Sylva Ourghoulian from Pasadena CA who came with our long-time amigo and her new husband Avo. Avo is a great fisherman and wanted to have a good experience for Sylva. She got limits of dorado each day plus some nice roosterfish!

Like I said, the ladies were rocking this week! From Sacramento, another first-timer, Becky Csotoras, was just off the Las Arenas lighthouse when she caught and released this nice roosterfish. She and her dad also got into the dorado bite this week as well.

Every time he comes down, Fred Sontag, from St. Louis MO says, “This is the best trip ever!” Four days of hot dorado, roosterfish and marlin fishing resulted in lots of fillets headed back to the midwest including this trophy big-headed bull dorado taken near Espirito Santo Island.

Our long time friend from Colorado, Doug Oclassen got his son, Andrew out with us for a day and off Las Arenas pulled in some nice roosterfish like this one. It’s turning into thee best roosterfish season in memory. Pretty much 99 percent of all the roosters like this one are getting released. Great job, guys! Andy is looking alot like dad these days!

Not many of these in Montana! Phil Matteson said he got “everything on his bucket list” on this trip to La Paz, his first! Dorado, roosterfish and this marlin shown with Captain Boli holding on!

Rex Smith has been visiting us for years. Our amigo did three days fishing with our La Paz fleet and had limits of dorado like this one every day. Rex is from the Phoenix AZ area and is posing here at Balandra Beach north of La Paz.

Big smiles for another of our ladies who had a good trip. From Utah, Kim Woodard, shows off another nice bull dorado that jumped on the line. Kim and her family had good results on dorado and roostefish over several days of fishing with us!

Fishing with grandpa, John Ehlers, from Colorado, 14-year-old Cheyenne says she cannot get enough of the ocean and was on her first trip ever to La Paz! Posing here with our popular Captain Pancho with our Las Arenas fleet, she’s holding one of several big roosterfish she caught and released. She also did several days of banner dorado fishing with grandpa, John!

One of the larger striped marlin of the week, Mike Sontag, has visited us a number of times and finally got his billfish. From North Carolina, Mike’s fish was estimated at about 150 pounds. The billfish have really gotten up to speed this past week even with the full moon and about 90 percent have been released. Mike’s panga hooked two others that got away.

More big smiles to go with a big dorado! The ladies were pulling hard on the fish all week and Karen Matteson from Montana was no exception. Nice dorado…big roosterfish…pargo…a real good trip and nice to have fun folks from Montana. I think Montana people just bring good fishing with them! Nicely done, Karen!

Dustyn Woodard is 17-years-old, and had a great trip sticking a bunch of big roosters with Captain Gerardo and releasing them all. He and his family, from Utah, also popped some great dorado. This was Dustyn’s first trip to see us.

Northern Cal resident, Jimmy Csutoras, saw an article in the S.F. Chronicle about Tailhunter and booked a trip with us. He got dorado and roosters and also got one of the only pargo we’ve seen in awhile! He got several of these nice barred pargo. That’s Punta Arenas in the background and they were very close to the beach!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Check out this underwater clip in slo-motion of a wild dorado hooked (then released)!  Turn up the sound.  If you can’t see the embedded video clip, click the youtube link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xl-JF0VOcM&feature=plcp

FULL MOON PRODUCES BEST DORADO BITE OF THE SEASON!

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-8, 2012

What’s the big deal about the full moon?  I keep telling people it really doesn’t seem to make much difference down here. As a matter of fact, we just had the best dorado week of the season in the full moon.  At times, folks were catching and releasing fish as fast as they could go!   Somedays the bite was later in the day but other our anglers were full of fish by breakfast time!  Once it started it could be pandemonium with double and triple hook ups.  Some of our clients told us they released dozens of dorado each day.

Most of the dorado fishing was north of La Paz and was found in a nice wedge from the Las Cruces/ Gordo area then up to the east side of Espirito Santo Island and up to the Charo Bank.  There’s a nice current line of sargasso weeds holding fish all up and down that area.  There’s lots of voracious 10-15 pounders all along that area that are almost fighting each other to get to the hooks but there’s also some nicer 20-50 pound bruisers mixed in as well.  In the last 2 weeks, it’s like someone threw a switch!

On Friday, Jill and I snuck out for a “quick day of fishing.”  What we ran into was one of our all-time best days on the water in 16 years of living here.  We ran into that line of sargasso weed along the east side of Espirito Santo Island.  Just on a lark we did not follow the rest of the fleet that morning which had gone south to check out the Las Cruces area where the dorado had been biting fairly steadily.

Our first bait immediately got slammed…as did our 2nd and 3rd…by 8 a.m. we had caught and released almost 20 dorado!  By 10 a.m. we had over 30 fish hooked and released.  And we were still the only ones fishing the area!  By 10:30 we were joined by the rest of the fleet and everyone hooked up!  There were dorado everywhere.  Under the boat, it looked like a fish pond!  There were dorado darting in and out of the weed line and current break.  Dorado were jumping following flying fish and one flying fish smacked Jill on the arm followed by a dorado that was chasing the bait that blew up in her face and narrowly missed her.

By 11 that morning we stopped counting at 40 dorado caught and released!  By this time we had switched to complete circle hooks and were also using all kinds of goofy lures that were in the tackle box!  Our last 3 fish were caught by us just dangling BARE HOOKS in the water and watching dorado come out from under the boat and 1…2…3…SLAM!  HOOK UP! BARE HOOKS!

As we pulled off the spot at 11:30 so we could back to the office, dorado were still jumping all around the boat as if yelling, “FEED ME! “  Way fun day.  Of course not every boat did that well, but more often than not all the pangas this week fishing La Paz came back with limits.  And if not, a quick query would tell you that they lost quite a few fish!

In that same area, especially with all the smaller punk dorado around, marlin and sailfish have also moved in to the area and are actively feeding.  We had quite a few hooked, lost and released this week with most in the 100-120 pound class.

Around Las Arenas, our fleet there continues to do well on the roosterfish.  If you’ve ever wanted to check a roosterfish off your “bucket list, ” this has been the year for it. Roosters in the 20-50 pound class have not been uncommon and they’re very close to the beaches where you can visually cast to them and watch the pick up!  Pretty exciting stuff to watch those huge dorsal fins cut through the water!  Las Arenas also produced some marlin and sailfish for us this week as well as pargo.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is the kind of bite we see in March and April…maybe not even THIS good! But with water temps dropping low, the yellowtail came roaring back near Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz. 17-year-old, Emiily Duncan poses on the beach at Balandra with the catch taken by herself, her dad and friend Jorge. They were back on the beach by 10 a.m. this morning!

From Pocatello, Idaho, on his first trip to La Paz, Troy Lenhart takes a knee on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort with just a portion of his catch for the day. The fish were 20-50 pound slugs and they put 11 of them in the box, and lost several others. Their captain said, “We could have had 20 fish easy!” They were done by 10:45 in the morning.

Our first official wahoo of the season…FINALLY! Also turns out to be Dave Rose’s first wahoo as well. Dave DROVE all the way down from Colorado as he does several times a year. Dave initially had one wahoo come off, but came back and gave it another shot and put this nice one in the boat just south of Cerralvo Island on a dark Rapala CD 18.

It’s always nice to put a “check mark” next to an item on the bucket list. Ed Hoffman lives just north of us in Loreto and came down specifically to catch a trophy rooster and got this beauty just of the Las Arenas lighthouse first thing in the morning! Just what he ordered! The fish was released.

First timer from Idaho, Amy Lenhart, was on her first day fishing and just off the beach at Las Arenas put the wood to this super nice grouper! The fat guy was put in the boat by Captain Victor who poses with Amy. She also got her first roosterfish as well the same day.

Our amigo, Jorge Romero, does the gaff honors with Bob Duncan of Santa Barbara on a day that they put 11 of these nice fish in the panga west of Espiritu Santo Island. Daughter, Emily, fights another fish in the stern. This week, waters were again green and dirty but for some reason, the yellowtail came roarding back!

Our buddy, retired fireman, Craig Braswell, grunts to lift up two of their limits of yellowtail as he stand in the shallows of Balandra Beach.

Sacramento amigo, Dave Frausto, should be happy about the 10 yellowtail they landed! But here he hoists two of the nice yellows they put in the box one of the banner days this week that the yellowtail went crazy.

A look at the Terrafin sea temperature satelite maps (www.terrafin.com) show some encouraging signs. Much of the water near Las Arenas is inching up into the high 70’s and low 80’s. A vast improvement over the past several weeks when the waters were in the 60’s and showing blue/green on the satellite maps. Hopefully, the warmer waters will burn off all the cloudiness in the water and also bring back the sardines as well.

YELLOWTAIL in JUNE? CRAZY BITE MARKS WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Who could have imagined.  It’s June. Last time I checked, it’s summertime on most people’s calendars.  In southern Baja and here in La Paz this is the time when we should be sticking dorado like crazy as well as marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and other warm water species.  However, on the contrary, water temperatures in the Sea of Cortez and around the southern Baja fishing “hot” spots that are traditionally on fire this time of year have fallen off the charts!  In a bad way.  Instead of 80 degree water temperatures, anglers have been facing cold, green, dirty, cloudy waters down in the 60’s!  On top of it, getting bait has been like finding a needle in a haystack!

Needless to say, like many areas, the fishing around La Paz has been less than stellar.  In fact, it’s been really difficult. Using lures, larger baits like live and dead mullet, mackerel and other species, we’ve been able to scratch up roosterfish, some jacks, the occasional dorado and a few other species.  And that’s been it.  Lots of disappointment. But what are you gonna do?

You’re gonna keep fishing!

And then things kinda took a little upswing this week! Earlier in the week, for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, we got into some nice jags of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.  We also got some great quality roosterfish up to about 50 pounds plus got into some pretty decent pargo and cabrilla. We also hooked a few striped marlin as well.  Still not up to snuff, but surely way better than what we had been doing most of May and early June.

And, with waters still cold, green and cloudy…when we were giving up on warm water species…a surprise.  No warm water fish, but instead, we had a late week eruption of 20-50 pound yellowtail!  This is crazy!  Yellowtail season is March and April. We haven’t seen yellowtail in over a month.  But this week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, they not only got into yellowtail, they had some of the best snaps of yellowtail we have ever seen!

Boats were coming back by 10 or 11 a.m. with limits of 10 big slugger yellowtail.  They would tell me they lost 4, 5, 6…8 other fish to the rocks.  Captains would tell me they could easily have taken 20 or more yellowtail.  The fish were eating in about 40 feet of water and taking the larger cocineros and live mackerel we were catching in La Paz Bay.  Folks didn’t know what to do with so much fish.   When you have 10 fish that are 40 pounders…you suddenly find yourself with about 150 pounds of fillet!   Kind of a good problem…especially when many of our anglers were geared to really having to scratch for any fish at all and finding that by 10 a.m. they were too tired to pull on another fish!

As the week closed out, the yellowtail got a bit more elusive.  One day on and next day off.  But, I stopped trying to guess where and when.  We were just glad they showed up!

Don’t know if this will hold or it’s just a blip on the radar, but it surely saved a crazy week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 13-20, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

No doubt dorado…like this nice bull take between Cerralvo Island and the peninsula are around. Not in great numbers, but it’s surprising that we’re getting big bulls of this quality so early.

Two legends go fishing. On the left, Hall of Fame NBA player Rick Barry poses next to legendary owner of the Giggling Marlin Restaurant in Cabo Lucas, Gary Wagner in front of Gary’s place at Bahia de Los Muertos.

The north side of Cerralvo Island turned out to be one of the more productive places in an otherwise slow week of fishing as huge amberjack, big cousins to yellowtail, put on a bite. The largest of these three amberjack weighed out at 87 pounds!

I usually don’t post up many marlin photos over the years for several reasons. First we encourage catch and release so a majority of our hooked marlin get let go and secondly, well, many marlin bust off! We had several hooked up this week that are still swimming after breaking off. More marlin seem to be showing up, but not all are willing to take a bait or lure just yet. This striper ate a trolled jig.

Even when fishing is slow, often our fallback are the feisty tough bonito that can really chew up tackle. Captain Yofo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet took a shot on a flyrod and found himself in about a 15 minute battle on a 10wt fly rod.  The fish was released.

SPOTTY FISHING AT BEST DURING DARK MOON AND SOLAR ECLIPSE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 13-20, 2012

In a few words, fishing this week around La Paz was…”WEIRD…SCRATCHY…SPOTTY.”  Things are definitely changing and we’re going through that transition right now between the cooler waters and spring and the warmer summer waters.  The fish are going through it too and so they’re adjusting. It’s a bit like when you bring a goldfish home from the church carnival in the little plastic bag.  At home, it takes awhile for them to get acclimated to their new surroundings in the home aquarium with temperatures and oxygen levels different.

I think that’s what happened this week.  Every day was different.  Some days the fish bit.  Some days they did not and it was like pulling teeth.   One day one species would be the hot species and the next day a completely different species would take center stage and the fish that were hot the day before, were nowhere to be found!

The other thing was that bait got scarce!  Sardine schools, the foundation of our fishing…just vanished.  We got a little, but it was like pulling teeth to find enough to fish.  Even the bait guys had problems finding it or found only a handful to sell or, it took the better part of the morning looking for bait to start fishing.  So, of course, that also reflected on the fishing numbers.  But, I’m not sure that would have made that much of a difference either because some folks went to trolling lures in the absence of bait…and they didn’t exactly light the world on fire either!

AND THIS WAS NOT A FULL MOON!  AND THERE WAS NOT MUCH WIND EITHER!  So, all you folks that think the fish bite better ALL the time during a dark moon, don’t say I never told you so!

This was bad all over.  I hear on the East Cape and down in Cabo, the bite just dropped off the charts all of a sudden as well.  Hopefully, it’s just the little dark before the big fish explosion!

So, what did we catch?

Well a little of this and a little of that…roosterfish along the shores were still active.  Pargo and cabrilla also bit, but that always works better when you have bait!  We had some really exciting catches on big amberjack and some very nice dorado were picked up as well as a few marlin. Here’s one example of crazy fishing.  The awesome yellowtail bite we had going for 3 months fell apart about 3 weeks ago.  Waters are just too warm. We’re gearing up for the bluewater species like dorado and tuna.  One of our pangas went out for dorado and came back with…two nice yellowtail!  Go figure!

The guys fishing conventionally, did better since they had more to work with.  I really felt badly for the flyfishers.  With no bait, it’s hard to chum fish up and get them interested.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any flyfishers this week, but I know other friends who were out there doing their best in a difficult situation. They resorted to trolling or else using hookless lures to tease fish within casting range.

As for what’s coming up?  The conditions look ripe.  The waters look good. They are already up into the low to mid-80’s on the surface. Air temperatures in in the mid-90’s.   I continue to think we’re right on the cusp of some really good fishing!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 6-13, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Our amigo, Chris Cribbs, who visits us twice a year is the man behind the fish…a big rooster…one of the largest of the week when the roosters seemed to be all over. That’s the sand of Las Arenas Beach behind Chris. The rooster was released.

Despite the fact that Fabio has mastered the ability to hold the fish closer to the camera to make it larger, this is still a MONSTER cabrilla! Late in the week we had trouble finding sardines for bait so Fabio dragged a big rapala over the rocks and locked into this gorgeous beast of a seabass. (Thanks for the Hawk shot!)

Maybe it was the lucky shirt! If it’s his lucky shirt, I want one! Althought it says “Colorado”…. Actually, Art lives and works above the Arctic Circle as a medic where it’s often 70 degrees below zero! Enjoying the sunshine for the 2nd time this year already, Art really got into the pargo near Espirtu Santo Island having a banner day on the rockfish…maybe the best of anyone so far this year!

We love father-son trips and when the kids outfish dad, it’s even better. Tim Stoklosa poses with his son, Sam, who blew up this huge dog-tooth snapper north of La Paz fishing with Captain Raul. It’s quite a feat to get one of these out’ve the rocks. Over two days, the guys also got some nice roosterfish as well.

On her first trip to La Paz and first time ocean-fishing, Debbie Devine got herself a nice roosterfish on the water with Captain Pancho near the Las Arenas lighthouse. The fish was released after the photo and Debbie lives in Colorado.

Mark Diehl had time for only one day of fishing on a visit from the Portland OR area and made the most of it with this trophy roosterfish that he photo’d and released. Punta Arenas in the background which was the scene of great rooster fishing all week.

The sheer cliffs of northern Cerralvo Island are the backdrop for Gonzo Rodriguez showing off one of his big mullet snapper (pargo liso) fishing with Jim “Hawk” Davis.

Love it when the youngsters are all smiles like Olivia here with Captain Victor and her first roosterfish!

ROOSTERFISH AND PARGO GO OFF BIG TIME!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 6-13, 2012

Roosterfish and pargo really kicked it into a higher gear this past week.  As air and water temperatures ratchet up bit by bit and everyone is anticipating the incoming warm-water species,  some days it seems like the roosters and pargo just dog-piled onto each other!

With temps in the high 80’s and into the 90’s, the roosterfish were especially voracious. I guess there’s a reason that they call this area the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.”  We didn’t get any monsters, but fish in the 5-40 pound class were pretty common.  Live sardines slow trolled or drifted were good as were Rapalas and other crank baits.

The roosters were in their normal spots along the sandy areas literally terrorizing schools of bait right up to and onto the sand!  However, we were also getting them around the rocky areas of the islands as well as over reefs and high spots where we were fishing for pargo and cabrilla!  The faster and more mobile roosters often hit the baits before the pargo or cabrilla could get to them and some of the roosters would blow up in spectacular fashion of of the water.  We were even hooking some roosters just offshore in deeper water!

It’s a great time for light tackle, spinning gear and the flyrods as well.

As for the pargo, they are mixing it up with the big cabrilla (seabass) and smaller grouper…that we can stop! Remember that these fish are often in extremely shallow waters and the rocks are almost right below the boats.  As soon as you hook up, you have to turn these fish or you’re done…right into the rocks and there’s just no way to win.  The cabrilla and pargo we are able to stop are in the 5-20 pound class, but much much bigger fish get away with a hook in their  jaws and a length of shredded line trailing behind them!

Most of the anticipation comes from the other condtions we’re seeing.  As I said last week, everything just looks primed to blow up any day.  Signs of roosters are just one indication, but there’s a ton of sargasso out there floating around and flurries of dorado have been seen under them.  As well, schools of fast moving tuna have eluded the pangas and marlin are just starting to wake up and we had several hook ups and break offs this week or, more often, the marlin are just sitting on the surface and not much interested in anything you throw at them, short of running over them with the panga.

Sometimes you are running the panga and hit  a “bump bump” and the panga takes a little hop and then there’s a marlin greyhounding away as you realize you just ran over him!

WEEKLY VIDEO

Got some video clips this week.  Sorry they’ve been scarce lately, but thought you’d like to see some of our La Paz pangas coming back into Balandra Bay with some nice pargo and cabrilla.  Click the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pNnSpS0KcM&list=UUSN0xdz-El64xBXmMhl_yvg&index=1&feature=plcp

We have over 100 video clips on YOUTUBE so feel free to subscribe so you get all the video updates.

Also, we’re on Facebook as well under Tailhunter International Sportfishing if you’d like to see our daily updates!

Hope you all had a great Mother’s Day and have a great week!

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 29 to May 5, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, Shoot Straight TV, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Not much left of the massive yellowtail bite we had going on for 3 months, but we still found a few. First time angler with us from Florida Joe Hussin hefts up one of several they found fishing the west side of Espirito Santo Island.

In the past few weeks, roosterfish have really taken off. None of the big boys that La Paz has historically been known for but fun school-sized 20-40 pounders have not been uncommon. Captain Victor here helps our buddy Bob Solee of B & B Fishing Rods in Portland OR to hold up a nice pez gallo before releasing it. That’s the rocks of Punta Perico in the background about 50 yards back.

Although he’s not smiling, Belmond Mann and his wife Amy love fishing with Captain Archange at Las Arenas and on this particular day, Bel surprisingly outfished Amy putting this nice pargo liso in the boat. Over two days they got a variety of pargo, cabrilla and snapper. Typical of the weekly bite.

Charlie Gibson fished with us for a while week. Charlie just had his right hand (reeling hand) surgically repaired so when the yellowtail bit off Espiritu Santo Island, he struggled mightily to get the fish to the boat! But, he gritted it out and got 3 ‘tails.

Yes, marlin have started to show and, although they’re not quite in the feeding mode, it could happen any day. The three Rodriguez brothers hooked this one which was not able to be released. It was caught off Cerralvo Island. Reports say that the high spot at the 88 has stripers sitting all over it just waiting for the water temps to go up a tad!

Don and Deb White from Oregon come to see us several times a year and always do well. All week, Don was the “King of Cabrilla” taking big seabass after big seabass. Here, he and Debbie show off two huge cabrilla, a snapper and a barred pargo.

Every now and then they even let me out on the water! I wanted to stay out’ve the way our other pangas so I grabbed a flyrod and we went out to the bonito ground to experience the “pain” of pulling on 10-15 pound horse bonito on a whippy 10wt flyrod…just for fun! OUCH! I still have bruises on my knuckles and forearm. None of these fish took less than 15 minutes to put in the boat! You veteran flyfishers can attest to this! Tough tough fish! We released all of them!

Just had to share this amazing photo with you. Joe Hussin from FLA was fishing with us this week and were in Capt. Archangel’s panga and just about 200 yards of Punta Perico a huge humpback kept breaching around them to the point where they were getting sprayed and splashed. The last one was no more than 30 feet in front of the panga. At that point Capt. Archangel said, “We’re outta here!” Joe caught this amazing shot during on of the jumps…just right…with his iPad!!! It’s poster quality! The waters are full of life right now…porpoise, turtles, whales, birds…an amazing place to be this time of year!

MIXED WEATHER AND MIXED FISHING ADDS VARIETY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 29-May 5, 2012

It was a mixed week on all levels this week.  We had hot muggy sunshine to wind to rain to flat seas and bouncy rolling chop.  Sometimes the fish bit better when it was rough.  Sometimes they bit better when it was flat as glass.  No rhyme or reason.  One day , they would all chase baits.  The next day the fish would turn their noses up at the bait and only want slow trolled slices of dead fish.  Or they wanted only dead sardinas.  As one of our clients said ,who fished with us all week, “It was like the fish were picky kids never knowing what they wanted!”  The game of the week was trying to figure out where they would be….what they would want…and what they would eat.

It would help that there are so many different conditions on top of the fact that there were so many different species of fish as we hit that “transitional period” when the waters are getting warmer, but there’s some areas of cold and some areas of warmer waters.  These differences in water temperatures could be horizontal where you would be in green cooler water in one spot, but move 100 yards to the side and the waters would be warm clear blue.  Or, the thermoclines could be vertical.  On the surface it could be 75.  A few feet down it could drop 10 degrees or, the temp change might not occur for 40 feet.

I was scuba diving last week and I ran into thermoclines on many levels and saw different fish depending on the water temperatures and feeding in different thermoclines.  For instance, I found 69 degree water at 25 feet down, but at 40 feet down, I found 72 degree water…it was actually warmer the further I went down.  I found pargo in the cooler water swimming but bonito and jacks swimming in the warmer water further down.

Anyway, the bite reflected all the change.  I gotta tell ya…the ocean is really full of life, even if you’re not fishing.  But the conditions are such that all of us are saying that it just looks like it’s gonna bust open.

There’s so much variety out there.  Cooler water fish like yellowtail and big amberjack are sporadically still around. Pargo and big cabrilla are feeding in the rocks and shallows.  Along the beaches, the roosterfish are getting livelier as well as the jack crevalle and occasional pompano.  Where the water is cooler in the shallows, there are still sierra to be caught as well.

Offshore, sargasso weed is building up and literally strewn across the ocean.  Schools of dorado are starting to show although not necessarily ready to eat just yet.  Same with the marlin. The big guys are sitting on the surface just sunning.  Give another few degrees in water temperature and they’ll start to chew.  Just a matter of time.  A few were hooked!  Flurries of fast moving tuna have also been spotted as well.

We’ll just have to see!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 22-29, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, robalo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

That's ALOT of fish! Oregonian Don White had a knack for big cabrilla and other rockies this week including this hefty pair shown here with our Captain Alfredo. Don was fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

Bob Solee, come down several times a year to see us here in La Paz and seems to always get a personal best or something unusual. Yellowtail were on his "bucket list" and as luck would have it, he took one of the few yellowtail of the week fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob is from the Portland Oregon area and is a custom fishing rod maker specializing in 3-pc. travel rods.

Yes, I do get out now and then and we had our 11th Annual Cabin Fever Classic here in La Paz and it was a blast. This dorado turns out to be the first of the season and quite a big boy for so early in the year! But it was swimming through a school of bonito when we spotted it and threw a live bait and it! A great catch. I'm standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Easy to see why this is called a dog-tooth snapper. We call 'em pargo. John "JD" Drucker from Arizona is one of our La Paz regulars and comes several times a year. He had other fish that they never moved out've the rocks!

First timer from Oregon, Sheila Maloney, had a big smile for this cubera snapper and a bunch of others she picked up working the east side of Espiritu Santo Island using a combination of sardines and live mackerel.

It was another good week for roosterfish as the fish seem to be coming on stronger. Dave Swanson and Captain Joel pose with a nice pez gallo before setting it free. We would have more rooster photos, but most fish fortunately are let go so we don't get many photos! Dave got this near Espirito Santo Island.

Matt Gesler has to be one of the funniest and happiest guys we can remember. Always laughing. For a first-timer he slammed fish for 3 days including these nice cabrilla.

Rod Brown really wanted to catch a yellowtail and finally got one on the last day of the last hour of fishing. Rod hails from Alaska and makes 2 trips a year to visit us.

She's the pargo queen! Carol Darby put 7 of these barred pargo in the panga compared to just one for her husband who said "She was on fire!" These are tough fish and this is quite an accomplishment. She stands here on the beach at Muertos Bay.

We had a blast this week with our 12th Annual Cabin Fever Classic. It was a bit smaller than usual, but no less fun as we had 3 days of fishing...one day of snorkeling at the island...and lots of great dinners and good times. Thanks everyone! It was a blast! (Where's Mike?)

INSHORE SPECIES DRAW MOST ATTENTION WITH BIG CABRILLA AND PARGO ROCKING ANGLERS

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 22-29, 2012

An interesting week of fishing down here in La Paz.  I think our yellowtail bite is officially over although we’re getting a few punky firecracker yellows that aren’t any bigger than 5-10 pounds. And…every now and then, especially north of La Paz, a nice little jag of the bigger fish jumps up and goes on a chew.  But, for all intents and purposes, things are changing and it’s best not to lament what’s NOT biting and concentrate on what IS biting!

 

Basically, it’s turning into your typical spring smorgasborg of fish species.  Frankly, it’s a lot of fun because from day-to-day, you’re never sure what’s going to hit. Sometimes it changes within the hour.  I believe this past week alone we got over a dozen keepable species of fish! 

 

This included our first dorado of the season, a nice 25 pound class mahi picked up on live bait right in the middle of swarming bonito schools.  This also included some really nice action on roosterfish that are hitting in numerous spots around the La Paz fishing area.  As well, cabrilla, grouper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle and all three members of the pargo family (barred pargo / pargo liso/ dog tooth-snapper) were all taken this week usualy in the areas around underwater structure.

I gotta tell you…take a look at some of the photos from this week.  Don’t blow off fishing for cabrilla or pargo.  Some of these fish are HUGE! Try stopping some of these bad boys before they get to the rocks.  I was on the water a number of times this past week and I would guess that about 2 nice pargo or cabrilla were caught for ever 10 hook ups.  Imagine a fish that can swallow a whole mackerel or a whole small needlefish that we’re using for bait.  That is a BIG fish with a BIG mouth!  One day, I personally lost at least 8 and only putting 3 aboard…and then again ONLY after amping up my gear from 40 pound test to 60…then to 80 pound test and basically my trolling sticks!

It sounds silly, but if you can’t turn their big heads of these guys, you might as well just throw bait in the water and watch them blow up on the surface and tear it up and forget fishing.  You’re just feeding the fish!  But, it’s incredibly exciting when you’re slow trolling a bait through blue clear waters and you can see the bottom just a few feet below.  You start chumming baits and out of nowhere, 20, 30 and 40 pound fish start going ballistic behind the boat…and then your line screams!  

The biggest factor this week was the darned wind!  I tell you…one day we had barely wind and had a great day.  Next day, the winds ripped us apart and we could not even get bait.  The best we could do all day was troll Rapalas all day for less-than-happy results.  When we went after yellowtail north of La Paz, it took us two hours in heavy winds and seas trying to catch a dozen mackerel for bait.  After getting enough bait, we hit the yellowtail spot and it was like fishing in a washing machine. The current was so strong we couldn’t even get the mackerel down deep enough to the fish because the pangas were getting blown off the spots.

Hopefully, usually the winds keep diminishing but it’s not over until it’s over.   I’m really excited about seeing so much sargasso weed floating around out there!  Given that we got that first nice dorado, if we get a little more water temperature, schools of dorado can’t be far behind.  Some commercial guys are seeing them as well as marlin sitting on the surface just sunning and not quite ready to go on the chew.  Give it just a tad more temperature and the big boys should come flying!

 

 

That’s our story!

 

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

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

Phones:  from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:  http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

.


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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 8-15, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Young Caroline Coomber from San Diego hadn’t done much fishing before, but got her biggest fish ever fishing with Captain Victor although she’s reluctant to touch the big yellowtail on the gaff. She was fishing off Cerralvo Island.

Skip Coomber usually comes to La Paz several times a year, but had not visited in a few years, but made the most of it heading out to fish Cerralvo Island and using mackerel took 2 nice yellowtail like this one. Skip is from the San Diego area.

YELLOWTAIL HARDER TO COME BY BUT OTHER SPECIES FILL THE GAPS

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 8-15, 2012

It was not our best week of fishing here for the most part.  Given the great bite we’ve had for the last 3 months, this past week was disappointing mainly because we’ve been spoiled.  So many big yellowail!  So given the bar has been so high and the expectations so great, this past week was actually a “normal” early spring week of fishing, but compared to the previous weeks/months, it was a bummer.

For one, we had some hangover weather from Easter week.  During that time, full moon and high winds, especially to the south pushed a lot of water around.  This pulled up colder greener off-color water from down deep.  In the long-run, this is good.  The cooler water with all the nutrients are a naturally occurring thing and brings up a lot of nutrients that makes the fishies grow, but short term, it really shuts off the bite.  Sort of like throwing the fish into a cold shower of off-color water.  It sometimes takes awhile for them to shake it off and come around again.

And I think that’s what happened.  Plus, the winds continued to blow.  In fact, several days were darn-right bumpy out there and on one day we had to just bring everyone back to town.  It’s the first day we’ve had to cancel boats in about 2 years.  The sun was out and the weather was nice, but the chop and wind were just crazy.  So, the clients were cool about it and it was just better to bring everyone in.  It would have been nearly impossible to get bait anyway.

And that was another problem. With the winds battering some of our bait holes around the islands, it scattered the bait.  Like looking for a needle in a haystack and the pangas would have a hard time just getting into the spots close to the rocks without some bit of risk.

So….well, like I said, it was more like a “normal” early spring bite.  We did get some yellowtail but not as many as we had been getting.  We also got some really nice cabrilla (Mexican seabass) and pargo (lost quite a few to the rocks) and some of the biggest sierra I have ever seen!  Oh, and also lots of bonito.  We had a number of families out so the bonito provided great action for many of the kids most of whom had never fished before.  We also did get a few roosterfish as well in the 20-pound class which looks like they’re finally showing up!

We did have some flyfishers who were fishing Baja for the first time and they had a blast.  In fact, as one of them told me “It’s not like steelhead or trout fishing.  I’m sore!  These fish beat you up!” he said with a grin.  That day he got several jack crevalle, several bonito, a few sierra, needlefish and roosters. Great variety!

As I’m writing this, waters seem to be getting better daily so, as long as the winds keep diminishing, the waters will clear up.  Even in Baja every now and then, there’s an off-week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 1-8, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Close...but no cigar! Bill Mitchell of Carmel CA had no idea when he threw his 9wt flyrod what might happen. For 90 minutes he fought this 40 pound yellowtail which finally snapped the little rod just at the boat. To find out later, the IGFA record on 20 pound tippet was only 31 pounds set in Loreto in 2006. Bill's fish would have broken the world record by 9 whopping pounds! Unfortunately, when checking with the IGFA, the fact that the rod broke disqualifies the fish! Darn! It was pretty exciting as we ran around trying to check the certification. Bill still said it was a great battle and great fish and he knows what he did! Captain Adolfo looks on. Bill also got a nice pargo as well (See below)

Nice way to start a trip! Slamming 7 huge yellowtail at the north end of Cerralvo Island on mackeral and lures. Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara said the fish were "all over" and they "fished until their arms fell off!" Jeff said, they easily could have put 10 in the boat.

Our first "official" rooster of the season and Marianne's first rooster as well even tho' she fishes several times a year in La Paz. The fish hit a trolled rapala near north Cerralvo while they were fishing for yellowtail. Captain Jorge smiles on!

Not only did he hook a world-record fish, but Bill Mitchell also fly rodded one of the most difficult fish in our waters even for anglers fishing with heavy conventional gear He took this nice pargo liso (mullet snapper) off Punta Perico which you can see in the background. In all my years here in La Paz, I've only seen less than a handful of these fish on the flyrod.

Everyone has been asking where are the pargo? Well, the yellowtail bite has been so good the last 3 months that few want to tangle with the doggedly difficult pargo! But the fish are definitely here! Jeff had a pretty decent day on the big-toothed fish! Also, on the rack...sierra, cabrilla and snapper! Pot luck great eating!

MORE PARGO THIS WEEK AS YELLOWTAIL MOVE TO OTHER AREAS AND…ALMOST A WORLD RECORD!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 1-8 , 2012

We here at Tailhunter wanted to wish all our amigos and tribal members a safe and happy Easter.  Hope you had/ have a good one.  We had a crazy good week here.  It seemed like everyone was on vacation. Sunshine and weather were perfect and it seems most folks took the whole week off as the beaches were packed and town was really in a festive mood all week.  Hope wherever you were you got a chance to enjoy things with your family!

On to the fishing report!!!

A pretty decent week of fishing although it seems the big fish scattered a bit.  Winds seemed to increase during the week and that probably had a lot to do with the bait moving and hence the fish.  Most of our better fishing was done at the north end of Cerralvo Island although our regular spots around Ventana, South Island, Bahia de Los Muertos, Punta Perico and Boca de Alamo all had their moments.

Probably our most exciting moment came with Bill Mitchell of Carmel CA pretty much un-officially blowing the IGFA yellowtail record out of the water on the flyrod!  We are pretty pumped up. The current record had been in 2006 with a 31 pound yellowtail caught on 20 pound tippet in Loreto.  Bill hooked his on the flyrod and it turned into a 90 minute fight and resulted in a huge 40 pound ‘tail besting the IGFA record by 9 pounds!  He fought the fish to the boat where his 9 wt flyrod snapped.   Unfortunately, when we approached the IGFA, Bill’s potential record would be disqualified because the rod snapped! Oh well.  Still a great fish and Bill was thrilled.  We know they are out there!

He also nailed a nice pargo on the flyrod as well.  A pretty nice trip!

As for the rest, as I said, the best spot was at north island of Cerralvo.  That’s where the best spot was for the big yellowtail. Mackerel worked best, but dropping down blue/white iron on the yo-yo produced some whoppers!

As the week moved along, the winds came up and the yellowtail bite tapered.  However, it did give our anglers to finally chase some other species and as I suspected, the pargo, cabrilla and sierra were right there!  “Huge schools of swarming big pargo!” as one of our anglers explained to me!  They were also on the feed so we got some nice hookups.  However, so many fish were lost to the rocks. More than half the hookups ripped the lines!  But that’s pargo fishing!

We also got our first official roosterfish of the season as well.  The are another species that has been around for a month or two.  But no one has been fishing for them as they chased the yellowtail.

DON’T FORGET FACEBOOK!

We have been doing our weekly fishing report now for about 16 years updating it weekly.  It’s become quite popular appearing in magazines, newspapers, internet message sites, websites and numerous other places and we figure about 10,000 weekly readers.  But, for some of you, that’s not enough!

If you’d like to see daily updates, check out Facebook.  We update almost daily but also bring you things about La Paz and Mexico that you won’t usually find in our regular reports.  All you have to do is “like”  TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL SPORTFISHING

http://www.facebook.com/Tailhunter.Sportfishing

and also “like” TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL (the restaurant/bar) and you’ll get even more of what’s happening with us down here in La Paz!

http://www.facebook.com/Tailhunter.Restaurant

Best fishes everyone!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


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

Read Full Post »

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