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

CNN weather

BIG AND ANGRY! ODILE sat right on us.

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Odile’s tracking path up the Baja

 

HISTORIC STORM  RIPS INTO BAJA

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

What a week!

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

WHAT HAPPENED:

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

WHAT IT WAS LIKE

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

AFTERMATH

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

LA PAZ

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

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Debris everywhere. Many trees and plants were completely denuded.

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

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Phone lines and power poles askew

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

CABO SAN LUCAS

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

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

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The remains of Cabo Airport.

IN THE PAST WEEK SINCE HURRICANE

LA PAZ

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

Destruction in downtown La Paz

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

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The La Paz waterfront malecon soaked and sloshed

CABO SAN LUCAS

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

 

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

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It got ugly during the looting

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What’s left of Cabo Walmart

TAILHUNTER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IF YOU WANT TO HELP

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

La Paz Rises

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

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

FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

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

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

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

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

God bless.  That’s our story

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Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The track of Hurricane ODILE as of Sunday morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Another in a long string of crazy weeks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AND FISHING AGAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

UNPREDICTABLE EL NINO CONDITIONS AFFECT FISHING BUT DORADO DO THEIR BEST

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

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

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

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

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

And that’s what happened Thursday morning.

But, the rest of the week was pretty grand!

LAS ARENAS

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

LA PAZ

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

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

WEATHER

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

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of Feb. 9-16, 2014

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What the heck is going on? Wahoo in winter? Jack Steele originally from Seattle WA put this gorgeous ‘hoo on the boat fishing near Cerralvo Island late in the week. Check out the calm waters…it makes a difference!

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Fat forktail! Charlie “Sticks” McGee is one of the best fishermen I know and a dynamite drummer and music teacher as well from San Diego. Our amigo stuck this thick yellowtail out in the channel north of La Paz.

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When it comes to putting big fish in the boat, our amiga, Donna Thompson, from La Ventana via Long Beach CA holds a thick, fat wahoo…a personal best!

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We’re smack in the middle of whale watching season and taking folks out daily to Bahia Magdalena to see the whales. Contact us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and get close to these great animals. They normally start to leave around March so don’t delay!

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Tailhunters is finally leaving the Pacific Northwest where we have been for the last month doing some outstanding shows in Puyallup WA (Seattle), Portland OR and Yakima WA! Thanks to everyone who has come by…old friends and new amigos! Lots of bookings for fishing with us in La Paz this year! But now, we leave the snow and rain and one of our favorite areas and head south all the way to the Phoenix ISE show where it’s supposed to be 80 degrees! Hope to see you there at the Cardinal football stadium! More details below!

WAHOO SET THE PACE FOR

THE WEEK IN SURPRISE BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of February 9-16, 2014

An otherwise slow week was saved by a late week chew that turned up some quality fish.

As typical, we got the usual winds, especially early in the week.  That never helps with the fishing but we come to expect that during the winter.  Especially northern winds. It also really jacks up our ability to get live bait.   But, as the week went on, the winds diminished.

And suddenly the bite turned on.

And it was a surprise.  Usually, we look for inshore fish during winter.  But instead, we got some real trophy stuff.  Once again, just like last week, wahoo showed up around Cerralvo Island.  Normally, it’s far too cold for us to be seeing these prized fish, but the boats took the at the north and south end of the island on slow trolled baits as well as lures.  The fish were good quality too with fish going 20–50 pounds which are real slammers, especially when you consider that these are known to be the “fastest fish in the world” capable of blazing line off a reel at close to 70 mph!

But, on top of that, we also picked off a few dorado.  Again, not only are these warm water fish, but we shouldn’t even be seeing these until about later March or April.

In addition to the wahoo and dorado, a few more of the yellowtail also bent the rods.  These fish are more typical of this time of year and we should be going full bore on these any week now.  So, it was encouraging to see more of these in the counts.

As for other species, we took some small pargo and snapper, cabrilla, and lots of bonito.

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It’s been a great show season and Jill and Jonathan now leave the Pacific Northwest and the Yakima WA sportsmens show and head south to the Phoenix International Sportsmens Expo.

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Our next show starting this week will be in the Cardinal Football Stadium where the NFL Cardinals play! This is a super show! Lots of stuff for the whole family! Come say hi!

TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR TAKES IT TO PHOENIX

Our 2014 Tailhunter Road Tour takes to the road again this week.  After an outstanding month in the Pacific Northwest attending shows in Washington and Oregon, we now drive south and take off our rain and snow gear and put on the shorts as we go to the International Sportsmans Expo in Phoenix, Arizona.  This is really a super show right on the floor of the University of Phoenix Football stadium where the NFL Cardinals play!  It’s a great place for a show and there’s always great weather, plenty of parking and lots to see!

The dates are Thursday to Sunday (Feb. 20-23rd).

Come say hi and chat with us about fishing with us in 2014 in La Paz.  We have amigos from all over Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico as well as Utah and Idaho come to visit us.  Here’s more information about the show as well as how to get discount tickets:  International Sports Expo – Phoenix Feb. 20-23, 2014

We’ll see you this week!

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan & Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet La Paz for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2012

Tim wahoo tags small 12-13

Tim Zimmer and a jubilant Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, hoist up this beefy wahoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island in the early morning. Great way to start the day and more evidence of the great blue water fish we’re still experiencing this past week!

rooster llew tags small 12-13

Can you tell it’s winter in La Paz? Our Florida, amigo, Llew Williams, has been fishing with us for many years and came to fish with us in December this time. Never expecting to catch dorado, wahoo and this big trophy rooster he’s trying t cradle so he can take a photo and release it. That’s Punta Perrico and the old Hotel Las Arenas in the distance.

Julie wahoo tags 12-13

Captain Gerardo is a big big fella so his size somewhat dwarfs Julie Gragg and here nice wahoo she caught on her first time fishing and visiting La Paz!

verda sierra tag small 12-13

I think this is Verda’s 3rd time fishing with us this year. She’s a gangbuster angler from the East Bay of San Francisco and shows off a nice rack of sierra, a dorado and a cabrila. She also got a marlin as well.

dorado medley tags 12-13

Great dorado photo with Steve Medley who caught this good-looking young bull just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

COOLER WEATHER WITH WARM WATER FISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2013

As one of our fishermen this week said, “I can’t believe how many marlin are in the water.  It’s crazy.  This is December and we fished for 4 days and it was almost like we couldn’t get away from them!  It was like they were following us around.  We hooked and released 5, but could have caught others!”

Another said, “We know it’s off-season, but never expected to catch marlin, let alone 3 in two days and lost 2 more.  Great fun to catch-and-release big fish!”

And another said, “Fight of my life.  We were catching dorado, which we never expected in the winter so I had 30 pound test on when a marlin bit just about 100 yards from shore!”

His buddy said, “We thought we’d be fishing for sierra and maybe some cabrilla and instead we loaded a cooler with dorado and wahoo.  I’m glad we released the marlin!”

And that’s pretty much how it went this week!  Again, another surprise fishing week.  It was windy and definitely cooler with some gray skies as is typical of fishing this time of year and we highly recommend not to forget bringing a jacket aboard.  But, the fishing the last few weeks has definitely NOT been seasonal.

We did get sierra and cabrilla for sure.  In fact, it was one of our better weeks for the inshore fishing which combined for cabrilla, bonito and even a few smaller rooster fish.

But, I’m again surprised by the continued presence of blue water fish like marlin (never had a November and December like this!), dorado and wahoo in the area.  As I’ve mentioned before, we’re ONLY fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.  We’ve pretty much shuttered out Tailhunter La Paz fleet as it’s usually too windy or not worth it to spend 1-2 hours getting bumped around to get to the fishing grounds.  Plus the bait guys just aren’t out much since there’s not many folks fishing out’ve La Paz for the same reasons.  So, it just makes more sense to keep fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet where the fish are close; there’s bait around; and even if it’s a little brisk, we’re somewhat sheltered by Bahia de Los Muertos and the lee side of Cerralvo Island.

Not many anglers around this time of year so it’s kinda nice to be out there fishing and you almost have the whole Sea of Cortez all to yourself!

AIRLINE UPDATES

Just a heads-up.  Looks like there’s some updates for flights from the U.S. this year.  Normally, Aero Mexico flies from Los Angeles to La Paz on Sundays and Thursdays.  This is the ONLY flight direct to La Paz non-stop.  But, it looks like they have added some Saturday flights as well!  Great news. 

Also, most of our amigos fly to Cabo and then we have our Tailhunter shuttle come get them.  Cabo is such an easy no-brainer much of the time.  There’s more flights.  There are daily flights.  It’s usually alot cheaper flying to Cabo.  With the newly completed road, it’s now just a bit over 2 hours now zooming up to La Paz!

Well, Alaska Air has opened routes from Boise  ID to San Diego now!  San Diego is a great airport and it’s way better than flying into LAX any day!  Several of our amigos and clients have already booked that flight from Idaho and are really happy with it.  San Diego to Cabo is cake!

That’s our story!  Hope you’re having a safe and happy Christmas holidays!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Dec. 1-8, 2013

Wahoo Fernando Sucre 12-13 tags small

Quite a surprise, but wahoo are still on the chew! Happy amigo, Fernando Sucre, from the San Francisco Bay area, was able to get in one day of fishing and scored this tasty wahoo near Cerralvo Island. The presence of wahoo has been a great treat so late in the season.

Tim Zimmer marlin tags small 12-13

Recently retired amigo, Tim Zimmer, has been making the most of his free time fishing his brains out all over the country. He and his wife always make a point of visiting us in December and always do well. We had a great week of marlin fishing with most of them getting released. Check out Captain Jorge and Tim’s nice billfish.

wahoo ken gragg tags 12-13

Ken Gragg is another of our frequent amigos. This is his 3rd trip this year, and in 2 days fishing this week with Captain Gerardo scored 4 wahoo! This one seems to be missing it’s nose, but it’s a big fish. Captain Gerardo is NFL lineman-sized guy!

Rooster Steve Medley 12-13 tags

Check out the roosterfish! In December!!! What’s up with that? Steve Medley got in two days of fishing and scored this trophy roosterfish just off the beach to take a great photo and release the fish to fight again! It’s been the best roosterfish season in years!

rooster mark marcus tags small 12-13

Another bucket list fish! Prof. Mark Marcus came to visit us from Washington also popped a big rooster this week. He’s kinda struggling with the hot fish to take the photo, but it’s a sweet fish and was released after the photo! He also got a wahoo as well! See the photo below! Some great fishing!

wahoo 1 Llew and Mark tags 12-13

DOUBLE ‘HOO! Professor Llew Williams from Florida and Professor Mark Marcus from Washington tag teamed for this double billing of wahoo off Cerralvo Island this past week. They took chunks back to our Tailhunter Restaurant for some great eats! Nicely done!

dorado tags small 12-13 sucre

Chris and Damon Lewis are brothers who met up in La Paz for some fishing. Chris is from Mexico City and Damon lives in Redwood City near San Francisco. Yes! There’s still dorado in our waters. Normally, warm water fish, they’re still lingering in surprising numbers!


CRAZY MARLIN AND WAHOO LIGHT IT UP!

La Paz -Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 1-8, 2014

It has truly been a surprising end of the season here in La Paz.  Mainly because the season hasn’t ended!

Here it is almost Christmas.  Yes, it’s getting cooler.  Yes, it’s getting windier and choppier.  We’re supposed to be fishing inshore right now for cabrilla, pargo, bonito, and sierra.

Instead, we’ve still got blue water pelagic species still biting.  And it’s not just one or two.  I mean, crazily, the fish or on a serious chew!

We had several days this week when almost every single one of our pangas hooked at least one or two striped marlin between 90 and 120 pounds.   We’ve had several days where every panga hooked 1-3 wahoo each between 15 and 40 pounds.  We’ve still got trophy rooster fish up on the beach up to 50 pounds.  Plus, there’s schools of 10-20 pound dorado out there as well!

This is more like the kind of fishing report I’d be giving in the summer or fall.  Not in December.  Not just a few weeks before Christmas!  It’s been a wacky year, but I would never have expected this.  Some days, it’s been like a buffet line.  Pick and choose what kind of fish you want to fish for!  I have no idea what the inshore rock fishing is like because no one is fishing for the inshore species!  Maybe there are pargo and cabrilla and sierra to be caught, but those species have to be feeling ignored because just a few further yards offshore, there’s dorado and marlin and wahoo ready to bite!

It’s been a great late season treat.  No complaints!

Hope you and yours are having a good holiday season.  Best fishes.  Stay safe and well!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Nov. 24-Dec. 1, 2014

Muertos sunrise

It was one of those nice tranquil holiday weeks. Not a whole lot of fishermen on the water, but a nice time to be in the area with some great weather and, not bad fishing. Here’s the morning view of Bahia de Los Muertos as we launch to go fishing for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

dorado tags armando 11-13

They were a little tough to find early in the week, but the dorado bite got better as the week went on with most fish about 10-15 pounds like this decent bull held by our Captain Armando on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

marlin jumping tags

Yes! It’s hard to believe, but there are still good number of striped marlin and sailfish in the area to punctuate what has been a very good year for billfish. Most of the billfish have been running about 100-130 pounds and thankfully are getting released. Most of the catches have also been unintentionally caught when guys are fishing for other species and the line gets picked up by a billfish! A nice treat and very unexpected this late in the season!

Arkie rooster tags

Captain Archangel hoists up another roosterfish for the camera before letting it go. Another species we don’t often see this late in the season. But, we’re finding them in the shallow waters inshore near the lighthouse. All of them are getting released.

WEEK STARTS SLOW ENDS ON UPSWING

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 24 to Dec. 1, 2013

Winds and waters got a little cooler this past week and we even had little flurries of rain that threatened.  We still got some fish, but overall, being a holiday weekend there just weren’t that many anglers in town.  The week started rather slowly and I figured that the season changes finally caught up with us.  Fishing was slow.  Just a few fish here and there.

But that’s what I had been expecting for about this time of year as the season changes to cooler conditions.  Basically, that means fewer blue water fish like dorado and billfish and more inshore species like cabrilla, pargo, jack crevalle and sierra.  So, after a few so-so fishing days early in the week, I was about ready to call it and say the warm-water species are gone.

But, then as the week went on, fishing got better.  We started hitting more dorado schools. We had a few biters from billfish (sailfish and marlin) and even got a few nice-sized rooster fish! The dorado do seem a bit more scattered, but it’s great that they are still around.  Likewise, the roosters are where you’d expect them…around the Las Arenas lighthouse and off Punta Perrico, but the fact that they are even here this late in the season is kinda cool!  The marlin?  Who knows!  It seems that every day at least one of our pangas is getting hooked up and more often-than-not, several hookups a day.  I think the waters are still warm enough to hold them in the area, plus there are still some big schools or bonito in the area which is perfect food for the billfish.

So, as of my writing, there’s still some pelagic species running around.  Again, I’m not sure how long this will last, but we’ll enjoy it as long as we get it.  The forecast for the coming week calls for some increasing winds and even a slight chance of rain so we’ll have to keep an eye out.

That’s our story!  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Nov. 17-24, 2013

RAul marlin tags 11-13

Another good week for billfish surprisingly for so late in the season. Raul Chollet with Captain Armando got his first marlin. We got quite a few billfish and almost all of them were released. This one was taken just off Punta Perico.

Rick Amy dorado tags 11-13

From Wyoming, Rick and Amy Kasper always do well fishing with us. They got into a nice school of dorado just off Las Arenas. Dorado are getting more scarce as the waters cool, but so far, we’re still finding roaming schools.

marlin benny tags small 11-13

Benny Salgado is often seen playing lead guitar with the Tailhunter Restaurant house band on Friday nights. He went fishing with us for the first time ever on the water and first time fishing. His first fish ever…a striped marlin!

dorado raul small tags 11-13

Raul Chollet has another dorado for the panga. Most of the dorado this week were the 8-20 pound class fish, but they’re hungry and voracious!

amy rooster tags 11-13

Even though it’s almost December, there’s still roosterfish in the water! Captain Jorge with Amy Kasper just inside Bahia de Los Muertos caught and released this roosterfish.

on the beach group tags

Many thanks to our long-time amigo, Bill Boyce (orange shirt) who brought his great camera crew down this week to fish with us and film for his popular TV show “IGFA Saltwater Adventures.” They got some great footage and had some fun with our folks!

BLUE WATER SPECIES STILL HOLDING!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov 17-24, 2013

It wasn’t a spectacular week of fishing, but given the time of the year, it wasn’t a bad week either and there were some very good catches. It’s just that seasons are changing and water temperatures are dropping taking with it more and more of the warm water species.

But, still, we had OK numbers of dorado. Limits were harder to come by, but everyone still got a few dorado between 8 and 20 pounds. There were also some decent surprising roosters around near the Las Arenas lighthouse with most fish between 10 an 30 pounds. We also still have decent numbers of billfish around as well. Every day we got at least 1 or more hook-ups on sailfish or marlin with most fish either breaking off or getting released. All of these species are somewhat unusual to still be biting this late in the season so these catches are treats. More likely, we should be fishing for more inshore species like cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle and pargo.

I imagine, as the waters continue to cool and winds get stronger, we’ll be fishing more and more for these inshore species.

One really nice spark this week were the appearance of wahoo. Mid-week, we got into a nice jag with several of our boats hooking up to the speedsters and a few getting boats. All of these were on the south side of Cerralvo Island and we had not taken any wahoo in about 2 week so this was a nice surprise to get into these trophies!

Our biggest day of the week happened to be when TV show host and IGFA Rep, Bill Boyce brought his film crew down to shoot for his TV show “IGFA Saltwater Adventures.” I was pretty nervous. Fishing had not been real great. It was also a full moon and windy plus being “off-season” wasn’t the best time to be fishing!

Still, Bill and his crew went out with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and brought the cameras. Between our 3 pangas out, we got some great footage! 6 marlin caught and released. Some great action on dorado plus some rooster fish caught in Muertos Bay!
That’s our story!  Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942

Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.

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

Tailhunter YouTube 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 »

wahoo taylor murphey 6-13 tags

We love having the kids get into this. Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA put up big smiles when she got into the wahoo this week near Cerralvo Island and poses with her catch! (Thanks for the photo, Roger!)

Vince Acosta rooster 6-13 tags

Take a look at the great colors! Our amigo, Vince Acosta from San Diego area put the wood to this roosterfish just off the sand near the Las Arenas lighthouse. He released the fish. Roosterfish tapered off this week, but some days were still banner!

dorado john gothi tags 6-3

Taking a break from the chill of rainy Oregon, John Gothi spreads the fin on a fresh bull dorado with Captain Pancho of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Great colors.

rooster dorene dannettelle 6-13 tags

Captain Pancho seems to get into alot of photos lately! Diane Woerner was visiting us on her first trip to La Paz from San Diego and got her first roosterfish as well. A quick photo then back into the water for a clean release!

wahoo roger tags 6-13

Local poster child, Roger Thompson always gets fish and knows how to make the photos look great. Roger was in the hot spot this week when the wahoo went “on the chew” near Cerralvo Island and lit them up! This is a beast of a ‘hoo!

PezGallo rooster jude martinez 6-13 tags

Big rooster for Jude Martinez with his personal best rooster estimated around the 70 pound mark taken north of La Paz. The fish was donated as it could not be released.

pargo donna thompson tags 6-13

Donna Thompson is the queen of the rockfish and never fails to put big pargo and cabrilla in the boat like this hefty barred pargo!

Rooster Bryan 6-13 tags dannetelle

Big rooster for Bryan Dannettelle who did CPR (catch photo and release) of this trophy roosterfish while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bryan is from Colorado.

dorado jonathan nina tags 6-13

New Mexico in the house with Jonathan and Nina Duc Le and some nice mahi they caught near Cerralvo Island. It was Jonathan’s 3rd trip, but he’s always come with the guys. This time Nina would not be left home so she came along and did some great fishing! Glad she came along!

CRAZY WEEK OF SPORADIC FISHING WITH UNUSUAL  COLDER WATERS AND WIND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 9-16, 2013

It’s been an erratic week of fishing as late spring winds brought up more cold waters from the deep and dropped water temperatures and and turned waters green.  Even in areas where the surface water seemed warm, below the surface, much of the water was cold.

The effect on the fishing was noticeable.  Fishing days were up-and-down.  One area could be good, but not far away another boat would get nothing.  One day we’d catch fish and the next day, winds would blow and stir things up.

Our excellent rooster fish bite took a hit.  We’ve had an incredible rooster fish season for the past 2 months, but things slowed markedly during this past week although there were some fun days when schools of the 10-20 pound fish were lots of fun on light tackle.  The larger fish were generally absent with only a handful of fish in the 20-60 pound class unlike previous weeks.

The chilling conditions also stumped the dorado bite that is way overdue in starting.  Normally, we’re seeing dorado back in April or so.  The bite this year is tremendously late.  Everytime it seems like were finally getting off the blocks and the dorado are ready to go, the waters get cold again and the dorado get lockjaw.  We did get a few but only scrappy numbers with fish about 10-30 pounds.  Far off the mark.

There were still some decent bites on pargo, cabrilla and amberjack and even a few marlin hooked but not enough for me to commit and say that the billfish are finally here in numbers.

The real highlight was the wahoo.  Last year, we probably had 6 fish caught all year.  We’ve far surpassed that months ago!  This week about mid-week we got a nice jag of wahoo between 10 and 50 pounds off the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island.  It was a nice surprise but no idea how long it will last.

NO MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES – URGENT

If you’re coming down to fish in Mexico, this is important to read:

We have just been informed by the Mexican government that they accidentally did not print out enough fishing licenses for the season.  Tailhunters is one of only a handful of places that is allowed to sell the over-the-counter.  But with no notice, the government now says they don’t have enough to give us to sell.  This has affected all of S. Baja.  Loreto, the East Cape and Cabo San Lucas have no licenses either.  Some are just fishing anyway.  We chose to follow the law.  No fun to look over your shoulder!

Not to stress.  You  can purchase the online and it is important that you buy them before coming down.  Here is the website:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in southern Baja has to purchase their licenses this way!
  • Make sure you forward this to everyone in your party who is coming down or purchase the fishing licenses for them.
  • It is NOT a great website.  Actually, it’s terrible, but it’s the ONLY way to get fishing licenses right now.  If it doesn’t work at first, just keep trying.

No one has licenses right now and nothing until the Mexican government prints some out!  We’re getting calls from operators in Cabo and the East Cape as well as walk-in clients all asking if we have extra licenses to send-over or sell.  It’s crazy.  Tough on all of us, especially because we’re one of the few outlets that has permits to physically sell the permits making it very convenient for the anglers.

You MUST have a license to fish.  Even with this craziness, the inspectors are still out there checking!!!  How nuts is that?  We have alway made sure our clients have that LITTLE BLUE PIECE OF PAPER OR OFFICIAL DOCUMENT.  If you don’t have it or your operators or agents are not physically giving it to you, you cannot fish!  That’s the law.  Many operators “charge you for it” but you never see the document.  You MUST have it in your possession to fish.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience!  We know it’s a pain in the backside.   Everyone who is going to be on the boat must have a fishing license and they do inspect several times a week. 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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Ryan O’Connor holds up one of the big tuna that showed up off the south end of Cerralvo Island and surprised us all late in the week. Ryan is from Miami. This fish was close to 100 pounds and he and his dad put 4 nice fish in the boat!

I was as surprised as any when Chuck Eaves and Captain Jorge pulled this huge slugger out’ve the fish box on the panga! WHOA!!! Close to 100 pounds and not only the first tuna of the season, but the largest as well. Great way to start! The fish initially were found running with porpoise. More video of Chuck below this weeks’ photos!

Good start for their first day of fishing for Curt Weiss and Henry Hernandez from Florida who pose with 4 of their big yellowfin tuna in the shallows at Punta Arenas. These fish were the first tuna run of the season we had seen!

Ben and Kendra Gillette usually spend their anniversary in Hawaii, but opted for La Paz this time. Ben had wanted to use his flyrod, but when these big tuna showed up he wisely put down his flyrod and grabbed the bigger conventional guns! Big smiles to go along with their nice fish!

Rick Walker from Washington, has had better trips to see us but ran into some of that tough fishing early in the week. However, he did put the largest dorado of the week aboard one of our pangas. The dorado are here, but the bite has been scattered. One day on…next day off!

Nelson Kwok was spearfishing on the north end of Cerralvo Island when he stuck this monster amberjack which was scaled at 87 pounds. This beast is a cousin to the yellowtail and makes great eating. Water temperatures around the island are about 83 degrees right now. North Cerralvo has traditionally been a hot spot for finding amberjack. (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)

Again…thanks Hawk for all the photos you get me! He got me another photo of Nelson Kwok from N. Cal with one of the yellowtail he got go go along with the big amberjack (shown above). We thought the yellowtail had left us over a month ago, but with water temperatures all over the place, yellowtail are showing up in the cooler waters.

Video Clip:  A short video clip of Chuck Eaves’ big tuna being pulled from the panga.  My video camera went on the fritz right after this or I would have had more video footage of all the tuna we got!

FLURRY OF NICE TUNA HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE  UNUSUALLY SLOW WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 20-27, 2012

This past week was perhaps the strangest week of the season.  Maybe it was a continuation of last week. In word, maybe “strange” wasn’t strong enough…it stunk!   We have jokingly been blaming the eclipse and big waves generated from the hurricane hundreds of miles to the south, but nothing adds up.  More likely, it’s been a combination of a number of factors. 

 

It would seem the conditions are all good.  Water temps are in the low to mid 80’s and air temperatures have been in the mid-80’s to mid-90’s.  Perfect vacation weather!  But you really have to look closer at what the satellite readings are telling us about the surface temperatures.

 

Around our Las Arenas/ Cerralvo Island areas, the surface water temps are in the 80’s.  Good warm water for species like dorado, wahoo, billfish, etc.  But north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island, the water temperatures are around the mid-70’s!  Those are more like cooler spring-time temperatures that produce yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, sierra, and more inshore fishing.  But…75-80 degree difference… That’s quite a change.  Plus there are fingers of warm water in the cold areas and fingers of cold water in the warm areas.  I can only speculate what it’s like UNDER the surface!

 

So, I think the fish are all messed up!  I think they are ready to take off and go, but we’re just going through a really rough transition time between our spring and summer conditions. Add to that the fact that there’s a huge bank of cold water down as cold as the mid-60’s hovering off Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape to our south that’s really hurting those areas AND threatening to move up into our area and we end up with a real “chop suey” of conditions!

 

So, not only are the fish confused, but moreso, it has affected our bait situation.  Some days bait is almost impossible to get.  This is mostly with our Las Arenas fleet which has resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, cut squid, live pilot fish, caballito jacks and liso (mullet).  It’s pretty hard to chum with these species and I especially feel badly for many of the flyfishers who come to La Paz this time of year when normally we have tons of sardines to chum up the fish for them. 

 

For our La Paz fleet, the bait has been a little easier, but still tougher than normal.  We’re getting some sardines but supplementing that with mackerel and caballitos. 

 

Bottom line is that there’s not many bullets for the guns!

 

But, we are getting some fish…

 

For our La Paz fleet, we have been surprised by the re-emergence of yellowtail again.  We had a great bite going for 3 months that just simply fell off the boards about a month ago.  Then, with the re-emergence of cold water, we suddenly have yellowtail biting again as well as pargo, cabrilla and little flurries of dorado and marlin in the warmer areas.

 

For our Las Arenas fleet, with even tougher bait stocks, the fishing was reduced to some bonito, some roosters and the occasional pargo and cabrilla.  I mean, “STINK” doesn’t even begin to describe it!  There were some nice amberjack at the north end of Cerralvo but then that was it!  Guys were really working hard and our captains were even staying extra hours on the water to do their best to get fish for the clients!  (But hat’s off to the fishermen who really put in the time and kept up the good attitudes and kept smiling through it all without a whole lot of whining.  Good sports!  Honestly, many of our clients the past week or so are regulars so they know how goood the fishing can be and are as perplexed as we are about the lack of bite!)

 

But then the highlight of the week, on Friday off the south end of Cerralvo Island…

… a big school of moving dolphin came through.  A few of our boats chased them and got immediate hook ups on slugger-sized yellowfin tuna.  Other boats joined in.  Instead of moving off with the dolphin, the tuna stayed…and bit!  And for a few great hours guys had bent rods on 40-100 pound yellowfin that just spanked the guys!  All our pangas got 1-4 fish each but all of them lost 2-5 other nice tuna as well.  They were pretty tired at the end of the day but these were feisty hard-charging fish.

 

The next day, most of the guys didn’t want to chase tuna as they were pretty beat up so it’s hard to know if the tuna stayed around, but inshore, the guys found roosters between 10 and 70 pounds as well as some small dorado and a few marlin and sailfish hookups that were either lost or released.  All roosters were also released.

 

So…I don’t know where that leaves us, but I’m encouraged by what we saw at the end of the week and hope things settle down!

Happy Memorial Day week and weekend everyone!  God bless all you vets for your service!

 

 

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

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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

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