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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2013

dorado in sand tags Ken campbell 10-13

This is my new favorite photo! I think I am going to frame it. After the hundreds of fishing photos I have published this is one of the most creative. Ken Campbell wanted to show everyone the big dorado he LOST! Anyone can have a photo of the fish they caught but how many have a photo of the the fish they lost? Bravo, Ken! (He did catch plenty of other dorado, but this would have been the biggest and was a heartbreaker!)

marlin hosmer small nagy tags 10-13-proc

Our amigos, Rick Hosmer (tail) and John Nagy (head) always do well. It’s Rick’s 4th trip this year and John’s 3rd trip this year and they always fish with Captain Mundo. They stuck this hefty blue marlin with a live bait estimated at about 200 pounds. Attempts to release the fish were not successful. They are posing with the fish at Bahia de Los Muertos near Las Arenas. Lots of billfish this week!

roosterfish nathan sibayan 10-13 small tags

Yes! There are still roosters around! Steve Sibayan helps his son, Nathan, with this nice rooster caught near the Las Arenas lighthouse on live bait. The fish was released and the Sibayan family was on their first trip to fish with Tailhunter in La Paz (see photos below)

dorado jarrett 10-13 small tags

Our Tailhunter family! Son Jarrett Pfost and his girlfriend Diana Pleasants from San Diego spent the week with us and did well with the dorado bite at Las Arenas.

Dorado don busse tags 10-13

“Dancing Don” Busse is one of our favorite amigos who visits us each year. Don fished several day this week and poses with one of his larger fish from his first day fishing from Las Arenas. The nice dorado swallowed a chunk of chopped squid.

marlin tags 10-13 small

Devon Boatman was another new amigo who gave us a try this week for the first time. He spent an hour-and-a-half on this striped marlin…his first. He got it to the boat and figured it was about 100 pounds and could easily heft it into the panga for a photo. NOT! It was heavier than he thought! So…a quick photo and a nice strong release for the marlin! Well-done!!! Devon is from Lake Elsinore CA .

dorado Sibayan family small held high tags 10-13

I love family photos! The Sibayan family with some of their dorado catch after a great day on the water. Nathan, William and mom Victoria on the beach!

John kennedy dorado tags small 10-13

From the mountains near Sacramento, John Kennedy, fished with us pretty much the whole week and had great outtings on the big dorado bite that’s been going on about 2 weeks now.

Al Basye Ehab tags dorado pargo 10-13

Al Basye and his future son-in-law-to-be Ehab Abufaire from Orange Co. CA fished 3 days this past week and got a bit of variety in the catch with dorado plus the nice barred pargo.

sailfish gary bryson tags small 10-13

Gary Bryson from northern California gets a hand with his first-ever billfish taken near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz by Kevin Hale, son Eric Bryson and Jeremy Lord. The fish was hooked on a live bait and could not be released. It was a great day. In addition to the sail, they also got a box of dorado; caught and released a hammerhead shark. They also saw a huge whaleshark and jumped into the water to swim with it. Quite a day!

Dorothy and Terry Humphrey dorado tags small 10-13

From Aloha, Oregon (love that name!), Dorothy and Terry Humphreys were visiting us for the first time and came to spend Dorothy’s birthday in La Paz. Although they live in Oregon, she had not fished in 30 years even though she loved fishing. So, they came to visit! And they did great on dorado!

dorado angelo small tags 10-13

Angela Olivero is another of our first-timers this week. He’s from Murrietta CA and with Captain Pancho running the panga poses with his largest dorado of the day. That’s Bahia de los Muertos in the background.

held high dorado tags small 10-13

Great shot. Fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, three dorado grab air from Eric Bryson, Kevin Hale and Jeremy Todd while on the beach in Balandra Bay after a day of fishing.

Calimari Fleet tags 10-13

Amigo, John Kennedy, took this great photo of the fishermen mixed up with the commercial fishermen at dawn’s first light all fishing for giant squid near Las Arenas. This is how we start the day catching these big squid for bait. The dorado have been eating these like crazy!

squid calamar Jeremy Frieze 10-13 tags

Jeremy Frieze holds up one of the big squid that we catch in the morning and use for bait. It’s actually alot of fun and harder than most people think to pull one of these huge cephalopods up from the deep.

DORADO STILL THE MAIN PLAYERS AS SCHOOLIES SWARM THE PANGAS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, 2013

I’m not sure how to explain this, but fishing “slowed down” this week…compared to last week!  But it wasn’t bad!

Last week, our Tailhunter anglers were catching triple and quadruple limits of dorado as fast as they could bait hooks so the bar had been set pretty high!  This week started like that but, as the week went on it “tapered” to only single and double limits.  So, there was some disappointment.  But hey…still catching and releasing 10 or 15 dorado a day is NOT a bad day on the water!

Not sure what happened.  The waters didn’t change . The temperatures didn’t change.  I didn’t see any noticeable differences in the winds or other variables, but no doubt the fishing dialed-down just a notch or two.  Most noticeably, this was for fishing out’ve La Paz where the pangas had to work a little harder to find and catch fish.

For Las Arenas, for the most part, limits were still the rule rather than the exception with some fast action most times and for most pangas although there were some blips here and there.

Still, it’s alot of fun, especially on light tackle to get into a voracious school of 10-15 pound dorado.  Guys would tell me that they could see bigger bulls on the periphery of the marauding schools, but the younger bucks would zoom in so fast that the bigger fish had no chance at the hooks!  But, we still did manange to get a few 20-40 pound fish every day.

For Las Arenas, there is still no live bait to be had.  But, that has not slowed the bite. What we’re doing is jumping into the squid holes in the morning and hauling up some of those giant squid.  Using cut up squid for bait works just fine.  The dorado don’t slow down at all.

For La Paz, we’re still getting some mackerel and caballitos for bait since we go out earlier than some of the other fleets.  So, we hook a few dozen of them.  Then we go buy some sardines from the bait guys.  After that, go jig up some bonito to use for cut-bait.  That gives us 2–4 different varieties of bait to offer once we’re at the fishing grounds.

For other species, the biggest comment is more for what we are NOT catching.  Tuna just have not come to the party this year.  That’s what most guys are asking since this is traditionally tuna time.  We’re getting some wahoo and every day a few billfish are hooked and released most of the time.  Many of the billfish are hooked while anglers are in the middle of a dorado frenzy and the marlin and sailfish show up to join the party by eating the chummed squid as well as feeding on the dorado themselves!

Roosterfish are still along the beaches although no one much has been fishing for them since they’re not good eating and the dorado are so rampant.  We’re also seeing a few more pargo and sierra as the waters are now starting to cool down.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

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, 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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La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept 22-29, 2013

Kathys Sailfish in boat tags 9-13 small

Kathy Terbu has made several trips to fish with Tailhunter over the years but she timed it right to get into the big dorado bite and was fishing with light tackle when this huge sailfish estimated at 140-160 pounds slammed into her line. She fought the fish for about 90 minutes. Most sailfish in our area are half this size. Attempts to release the fish were not successful and the meat was donated to several families.

Tracy burns dorado 9-13 tags

Tracy Burns came down to fish a few days with her dad. She lives in Topanga Canyon CA and while fishing north of La Paz she put this big bull dorado in the boat along with a full limit of other mahi.

Vince small dorado 9-13 tags

Fresh one! Vince Langgle from the San Diego Area, gaffs another big bull to put in the box. Dorado fishing this past week was as fast and furious as I have ever seen it. Maybe ever.

DORADO DAVE 1 gaff tags 9-13 small

Dave “Mahi” Hill has been our amigo for many years and came all the way out from Texas to spend the with with us. He got 4 banner days of dorado fishing in with numerous fish caught and released.

dorado leslie pilkington 9-13 tags

The ladies had such a big week with us. Leslie Pilkington from Orangevale CA was on her first trip to fish with us in La Paz and had a successful outing with Captain Pancho and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fishing fleet.

Johns Dorado Horizontal small tags 8-13

It was a week full of school-sized dorado….all you could want. But there were still some big bulls mixed in like this beauty bull that might have been one of the largest of the week and caught by John Terbu from Utah. He’s on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

Chris tags dorado 8-13 small

Another San Diego amigo, Chris Wellons, made the best of only two days of fishing with easy limits both day with this young bull dorado among many while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

roosterfish kuhn small 9-13 tags

Yes! There’s still roosterfish around. I haven’t posted up many photos the last few weeks because no one has been fishing for them. Everyone has been chasing all the pelagic species and ignoring the roosters. But there’s still some fish up on the beaches like Ted Kuhn’s 30 pounder. Ted’s from Arizona and he tried to release the fish but was unsuccessful. He also hooked a 40 pound class rooster as well.

Gary Pilkington tags squid 9-13

If you fish with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, this is how your morning starts…with fishing for giant squid like our amigo, Gary Pelkington . The squid make great bait but also setting some aside is a good idea for dinner!

MAYBE THE BEST DORADO BITE…EVER!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 22-29, 2013

The last two weeks may well have been the best dorado fishing we have seen in years around here in La Paz.  Basically, ever since the last storm it was as if someone turned on a switch and the school-sized dorado either woke up or someone stirred up the nest and released a ha-zillion 10-20 pound dorado!

“We caught our first limit in less than an hour and then after that, we lost count of how many we released!”

“We only stopped the panga once and never moved for the next 3 hours.  It was like being in a private trout pond except these were schools of dorado everywhere under the panga!  It was crazy!”

“I’ve heard people joke about fish ‘jumping into the boat’ but the dorado were so thick they would actually bump in to the panga when they were charging the chum and I hooked one and it actually DID land in the panga.  We had 3-5 dorado hooked up at any one time!”

“In the middle of the frenzy I felt this big slam in my back and thought it was my buddy slapping me, it was a small dorado that hit me in the back and fell back in the water!”

“It was like someone rang a dinner bell and these fish had never been fed but they heard there was a free meal! There were so many swarming in, around and under the panga!” 

These are no exaggeration. For about the last 8 or 9 days, imagine 20…30…40 or more dorado per day!  Anglers losing count of how many fish they caught and released.  Fish, not even hooked, jumping all around the boats.  Just jumping!  Fish fighting each other to grab baits.  Fish bumping the pangas and slamming into the gunwales.  Fish hooked on hand lines.  Fish eating bits of tortilla and grabbing bear hooks tossed into the water.  Hooked fish getting knocked off the hooks by other fish chasing the hooked fish and the left-over bait getting picked up by another fish!

Just incredible dorado fishing unlike anything many of us have ever experienced.

My biggest worry is that we’ve had so many first-timers here and the think it is ALWAYS like this!  The bar has been set awfully high!

On the light tackle and flyrod, these dorado have been spectacular!

Between our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets, the bite has been epic.  If there was a distinction this week, it was that there were MORE fish at Las Arenas and a bit fewer fish out’ve La Paz, but bigger fish.  Most of the Las Arenas fish were 8-17 pounds.  The La Paz fish tended to be 10-35 pounders, just not quite as many!

As for other action, there’s been a far number of billfish hookups as sailfish and marlin cruise through the schools of dorado also eating the chum or baits or simply eating the many dorado.  In the same areas, we also found wahoo again, although those hookups don’t usually last long. Finally ,contrary to the belief of many, there’s still roosterfish in the areas as we hooked several 30-40 pound fish along the beaches.  No tuna to speak of except way way outside of Cerralvo Island.  Waters might be getting cooler as we’re seeing a few sierra in the fishing mix.  But, really hard to tell about other species since everyone has been chasing this mad dorado bite.

Hope this keeps up!

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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 15-22, 2013

marlin larry wilson tags 9-13 small

Big striped marlin for Larry Wilson from Montana. It was Larry’s first time fishing Mexico and first time fishing with Tailhunter International in La Paz. Larry caught numerous dorado on light tackle releasing many then he hooked onto this striped marlin also on light tackle. With the assist of Captain Pancho, he battled the fish to the boat…took a quick photo…and released the fish which swam off strongly!  Larry was fishing south of Cerralvo Island.

dorado big john virgin tags 9-13 small

John Virgin struggles to hold this big boy bull dorado for the photo! He got several of these fishing this past week with Tailhunters. This particular beauty with the great colors was taken just north of La Paz.

Adam Young Craig Wilfrey tags dorado small 9-13-proc

From Sacramento CA, Adam Wilfley and Craig Young pose with a few of their catch from Las Arenas while standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Both guys got in on one of the days this week when the schoolie-dorade went crazy with fast easy limits!

Sharon Virgin sailfish tags 9-13 small

This was a good birthday! Sharon Virgin gets a hand from husband John posing with her first sailfish. She also caught and released a hammerhead shark and several large dorado and bonito. They weren’t able to release the sailfish. She had several banner days of fishing with Tailhunters.

Jon Holtby tags dorado 9-13

Jon Holtby won the “pot” from his fishing amigos with this big bull dorado while fishing north of La Paz with Captain Joel of the Tailhunter Fleet. The big fish was taken on bait near Espirto Santo Island just before the storm arrived. (It never really did!)

dorado sharon 9-13 small tags

Check out the colors on Sharon’s fish! It seemed all the larger fish were taken this past week with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet while our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet put up more numbers. Sharon took several big fish after a week with us here in La Paz.

Deana Wilson squid small tags 9-13-proc

If you fish with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, this is often how the day starts! With a vigorous work-out catching giant squid for bait! Dean Wilson puts the wood to another big squid that fight surprisingly hard (see photo below). Husband Larry looks on.

giant squid pancho tags small 9-13-proc

Great bait and great eating, the giant squid have been with us now for several weeks although this is really one of the “little guys.” Some of them have been upward to 50 pounders and they get much larger! Captain Pancho is about to heave one over the gunwale of the panga. Note the other pangas all doing the same thing in the early morning hours.

dorado underwater tags small

We had several days this week at Las Arenas where the 10-pound dorado were as thick as…DORADO! They swarmed the pangas and limits came fast and easy with pangas releasing fish as fast as they could shake them off. Great undewater shot by John Virgin. Light tackle and flyfishers had a ball.

lonely panga tags

This is “Hurricane Manuel.” We surely dodged a bullet when the big storm veered away and left us with some wind…a little rain…and just some hazy skies!

HURRICANE MANUEL GIVES A SCARE BUT ONLY SPITS AND LEAVES THE FISHING ALONE!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of September 15-22, 2013

We had a great bite going all week on dorado but then had to contend with the sudden approach of “Manual” that started as a little blip on the weather radar that became a “Tropical Depression” then reached hurricane status in a very short time.

It didn’t look good.  It was on a collision course with Southern Baja and was surely going to slam into La Paz.  Captains were pulling boats out of the water.  Others from outside came running into the bay to seek shelter.  Folks were in the markets buying water and flashlight batteries and bottles of tequila and cases of beer!

It looked like we were going to have to cancel fishing the rest of the week and I was preparing to contact anglers coming down on their vacations to try to postpone their trips.

Then suddenly, the strangest thing happened.  The storm veered 90 degrees east…like it turned a corner.  All we got was about an hour of hard rain in the evening and some strong winds for a day.  That was it!!!  Saved!

We ended up keeping right on fishing!  It was a little bumpy leading in and leading out of the storm, but the fish didn’t stop biting.  Dorado madness, especially after the storm moved off.  In fact, I had not seen that kind of frenzy all season.  We had some of our pangas run into entire hungry schools of 10-15 pounders where each boat caught and released 15-25 dorado each!

It wasn’t like that for everyone,  but there were surely large chunks of mahi schools out there and most boats got limits or near limits or, lost alot of fish and “should have” had limits!  (I saw some thumbs with blisters on them!) .  As well, there were some larger fish ranging around as well with 25-35 pounders in the mix.

It was also a pretty good week on a few other species.  We hooked a few wahoo around Cerralvo Island and also just outside La Paz Bay although all the fish either bit through or got off.  We also got into some nice grade striped marlin and sailfish as well.

We have a mix of bait although it’s hard to tell what we’ll have from one day to the next.  However, everything seems to have a place and works well.  We’re still catching giant squid at Las Arenas which makes for great bait (plus good eating!) plus using some sardines, mackerel and caballitos plus using small bonito strips for larger dorado.

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, 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2013

Panga sunrise braswell group 9-13 tags-proc

We could not have asked for better weather and fishing conditions this week with the end result being solid fishing action for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. Nothing quite like a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez and getting ready to head out for fishing at Las Arenas.

 

dorado ed small  tags 8-13

Photos just don’t do justice to the magnificence of our dorado. With incredible colors and acrobatic battles, they’re hard to beat as a sportfish! Ed Vander Veer, from Washington, has already made two trips to visit us this year and loves fishing ultra light tackle taking great fish like this one off Cerralvo Island.

 

dorado big kurt small tags 8-13

It’s always great to have first-timers and getting them into the fish. Kurt Dittig, from Sacramento, was on his first trip to visit us in La Paz and spent 3 days ripping on the dorado including this 30-pound class bull taken north of La Paz.

 

Dan Brown dorado 1 tags small

It’s a long way from Wisconsin, but Dan Brown, was another of our first-timers this past week and shows off a fresh bull dorado while standing in our panga. He’s just outside the mouth of Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

dorado mary small tags 9-13

She always does so well. Our amiga, Mary Heilman Vander Veer, never fails to put fish in the boat and she usually does it with light tackle. This big bull was no exception. Mary was with us for a whole week and poses with the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

McArthur dorado 9-13 tags

Big smiles from Mike McArthur who came in from Los Angeles to squeeze in two quick days of fishing getting into the dorado fishing and added this bull to the rack from Las Arenas.

 

SQUID 2 tags small

I”m getting lots of questions about the giant squid. Yes, we’re still getting them. They’ve been around for about 4 weeks and we catch them early in the morning as we head out. They’re fighters! But, they do make great bait, but also, folks forget that giant squid is the same as calamari! So, often they bring it back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have us fix it up. This one is headed for some marinated calamari salad and some fried calamari plates. I’ve photographed it next to a soda can and my kitchen knife. It’s important to treat the squid meat correctly or it will come out tasting bitter.

DORADO CHARGE THE PANGAS ALL WEEK!

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

Overall, we probably could not have asked for better conditions this past week.  We had a few showers like the previous weeks, but nothing to keep folks off the waters and generally, the winds were kind to us as well with just some early morning and late afternoon breezes.

The good conditions made for some really excellent dorado fishing for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas as well as our Tailhunter La Paz fleets.  Here and there an occasional boat might have had an off-day, but mostly speaking, most of our amigos fish several days and one slow day was usually compensated by 1 or 2 outstanding days where the fish attacked the pangas and guys more than made up for the off-day and in some cases were catching and releasing as fast as they could go.

No really big big fish this week, but our larger fish were in the 30-pound class with some occasional 40’s and, of course, large fish have a tendency to bust off too!  That’s part of fishing and that’s why they’re bigger fish!  But, lots of medium 10-25 pounders all week.   Let me put it this way.  Everyone who wanted a cooler of fish to take home or a day of bending rods got it!

The really cool thing the past few weeks is that we have had so many first timers…couples…wives…girlfriends…kids…and watching them get into these fish and then listening to the animated stories are just the best!  But, in addition, they’re also experiencing stuff like whales and dolphin and sea turtles and manta rays as well plus just the overall experience of being in Baja and La Paz for the first time!  Many of them bring their catches to our restaurant as well so they’re getting to enjoy their fish twice in the same day!

As for other species, there’s still marlin and sailfish around and we’re getting a hook-up or two a day.  Most fish are getting busted off or released.   I’d say we’re probably releasing about 90% of the billfish that make it to the boat.  There’s also still a few rooster fish around, plus big jack crevalle and huge arm-tiring bonito that are beating up on the anglers.  As well, we are still hooking a few wahoo but not many are making it to the boats before they get busted off!

Plus, there’s still giant squid to start the day also.  Many anglers are using part of them for bait and eating the rest!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – La Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2013

dorado sax pancho 8-13

All Sax Endo could say after battling this big dorado was, “My arms are so sore!” he said with a big smile. Sax is from Pasadena CA and took this trophy dorado while fishing with Captain Pancho and the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet off Punta Arenas.

Incredible colors on this beautiful dorado caught by Billy Chung from San Jose CA.  Billy said he fought the fish for about 20 minutes on his last day of fishing. Captain Armando helps out!

Incredible colors on this beautiful dorado caught by Billy Chung from San Jose CA. Billy said he fought the fish for about 20 minutes on his last day of fishing. Captain Armando helps out!

wahoo caryn aizawa tags 8-13

Yes! Wahoo are still around. Caryn Aizawa, was dragging a dark rapala off the south end of Cerralvo Island this past week when this speedy wahoo slammed the line. It was a pretty good week for wahoo!

Another amigo on his first time fishing with Tailhunter in La Paz, Mike Council  from Ventura CA put the hurt on this trophy dorado fishing his 2nd day north of La Paz.

Another amigo on his first time fishing with Tailhunter in La Paz, Mike Council from Ventura CA put the hurt on this trophy dorado fishing his 2nd day north of La Paz.

dorado gomer oleson tags 8-13

Darrell “Gomer” Oleson, our amigo from Utah, came down this past week and had a banner 3 days catching dorado with both our Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Here, he stands on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos with a big bull.

wahoo jeff tags 8-13

Jeff Sakuda from Montebello CA has now visited us twice this year and has another trip set for October in between being a commercial pilot. Our amigo took a break from hanging dorado and stuck this thick wahoo near Cerralvo Island.

Jim Oakes big dorado tags 8-13 small

Big smiles from another of our Oregon amigos! Captain Victor lends a hand to Jim Oakes who was on his first trip ever to fish in La Paz. This massive big-headed bull dorado was an early morning catch at sunrise to start the day.

dorado teila robnett 8-13 tags

The ladies had a great week fishing with us and Teila Robnett visiting us for the first time from Colorado spent 3 days pulling limits of dorado like this one while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

dorado tags 8-13 John OReilly

John O’Reilly shows off one of his big fish from his first-day fishing at Las Arenas. Our amigo, John, from Ventura CA was on his first trip visiting us in La Paz and had 2 great days of fishing with both our fleets.

Gary Carpenter Jim Oaks dorado 1 8-13 small

Nothing wrong with this day! A good start for Gary Carpenter and Jim Oakes who went home with full ice chests after a week of fishing with us.

ANOTHER TROPICAL STORM PASSES THROUGH BUT DORADO NOT AFFECTED!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2013

We had our 2nd tropical storm (“Juliette”) in as many weeks, and although some parts of southern Baja took it in the nose, La Paz  gratefully only got some strong winds, lots of clouds and some gentle rain and drizzle which muddied the roads and watered the plants.

Still, I always worry how the fishing will be affected anytime there’s a big change in the weather. Prior to the storm, dorado fishing had been spectacular.  As good as can be!

Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had been deep into dorado ranging from 10-40 pounds with some days showing fast and easy limits with the voracious fish hammering the anglers.

As well, there were also good hookups (and all released) of sailfish, striped marlin and even on blue marlin estimated at over 300 pounds hooked on 30 pound test that (understandably) broke off after searing a few runs!  Plus, for our Las Arenas fleet, wahoo showed up again for the early-morning folks who wanted to drag the big lures around after catching some of the giant squid.

So, once the storm passed, there was a bit of trepidation.

As it turned out, the dorado stayed hungry and came to chew!  Fishing picked up right where it left off with fish showing up in a wide variety of areas and ranging from just a few yards offshore near the bean to several miles in the channel.    One of the cool things about storms is that they often wash a bunch of stuff out into the water.   I’m talking about brush, trees, trash…all kinds of stuff.  After the waters settle the debris is out there floating either by itself or along current lines.

These become great fish attractors and working these current lines and floating debris can produce incredible results so, even if there are storms, there’s often a silver lining.  Last year, we had a very wet fall season with rain almost every day for 5 weeks.  We had more rain in 5 weeks than we had in the previous 10 years!  Mostly it was just a few minutes and no more than an hour a day, but not only did it turn the hills green, but produced all kinds of “fish habitat” out there on the water.

This year, we’ve had 3 little tropical storms blow through already so we’re always keeping an eye out for that.  Hopefully, no hurricanes!  But fishing is good and September and October are traditionally our busiest and best months for fishing.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 11-18, 2014

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Yes…some big tuna showed up but few taken! The fish were 50-100 pounders, but after long battles, there wasn’t much to show for it as the grumpy fish bent rods and backs. However, our good amiga, Debbie White from Oregon, who fishes with us every year and often puts the guys to shame stuck this plug yellowfin tuna estimated at 60 pounds. She did it in 30 minutes on 30 pound test with some good skippering by Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are pretty far outside of Cerralvo Island.

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Another one who put the big boys to shame this week was 8-year-old Grayson (“G-man”) Richmond from Colorado. Over 4 days fishing he put a couple of dozen dorado and other species in the boat WITHOUT HELP and he did it on conventional tackle…light 15 pound spinning gear…and on the flyrod! With his big smile, he impressed everyone from our captains to our drivers and us as well. About the only help he needed all week was to hold up the fish for photos like this one with dad Bill Richmond.

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No, Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet is not trying to eat this hefty bull dorado! He and angler Russ Blount were wrestling with the big fish trying to keep it still for the photo as it had already smacked them several times! Russ had a great week with us and is from Oregon.

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She likes pickle juice with her tequila shots and fishing in warm waters! Shawn Kirk from Denver, Colorado was on her first visit to us in La Paz and shows off one of several nice dorado she caught north of La Paz.

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“Bonefish” Bill Richmond spent 4 days whacking dorado with us, but on this particular day after climbing off the panga, he was casting his flyrod from shore and caught and released this nice dorado JUST A FEW YARDS OFF THE BEACH! People can never believe when we tell them we don’t have to go far for our fish! This is a great catch….even moreso on the flyrod!

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The ladies really put on a show this week! Another of our first-timers…Diane Kunze came with husband Frank who fished with us last year who just retired. The two of the were with us for the week and Diane had fun with dorado like this one and Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

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There’s good number of marlin and sailfish right now and the fact that we’re using big baits most days entices more bites than normal. Fortunately, most fish are getting released. Don White from Oregon visits us several times a year here at Tailhunters and always does well. He tangled with several blue marlin that broke lines and caught and released this hefty striper off Cerralvo Island on light tackle. Captain Pancho with all the smiles.

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Coach Joey Fuschetti has been fishing with Tailhunter since the beginning…almost 18 years. Joey has a knack for lots of fish and big fish. He also has few “secrets” that he swears by like chumming with fresh papaya! (Yes…he does!) It seems to work. He had chunks of papaya out there when this big colorful bull hit!

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Just had to post up another photo of our new favorite poster kid…Grayson “G-Man” Richmond smiling big time with Captain Rogelio after putting another big dorado in the boat on light tackle!

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First-time visitor to La Paz, Ben Kirk had some banner fishing with us all the way from Denver. Here, he stands on the beach at Balandra posing with 2 of several nice bull dorado he caught or La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

DORADO HOLD CENTER STAGE FOR ANGLERS

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 11-18, 2013

No doubt this is dorado season in full-color and full-turbo right now and we’re grateful because the mahi provide  all the things you want out’ve a sportfish…eager to bite…swarming schools…great colorful action…can be big and mean…and taste great on the table!

Although our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had the better and most solid catches all week of dorado, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet also provided steady action.  Both sides had fish that were generally schoolie-sized in the 10-15 pound class, with some larger bulls in the 25-30 pound class and the largest fish of the week around 40-ish pounds.

The bigger issue has been the bait situation that seems to change from week-to-week.  Las Arenas is having another year with a scarcity of sardines so we’re doing well with caballitos, mackerel, zebra fish, ballyhoo and, chunks of giant squid that we started catching about 2 weeks ago (that also make great eating as well!).

One of the good things about the bite at Las Arenas is that the fish are closer now.  In previous weeks the schools have ranged pretty far (relatively speaking for us!)  for what we are used to.  The last week or so the fish are inshore or as close as the nearby commercial buoy lines.

Even for our La Paz fleet, there were schools of dorado as far out as the channel to San Francisquito as well as the Charo Bank, but as close as even finding some schools of dorado right in the bay…right outside Balandra which is a stone’s throw north of town better know for a place to go swimming than for fishing!  However, breaking schools of dorado were located under bait balls right there just outside Balandra.

As for the La Paz bait, the situation has been a bit better than with Las Arenas.  Most days we have sardines to purchase from the bait guys.  Plus going out as early as we do with our fleet, we’re often able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos before the sun comes up. Then, after getting some sardines some quick trolling for bonito enables us to hit the fishing spots with 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of bait for the day!

In terms of other species, we got a steady number of sailfish and striped marlin hookups with both our fleets with all fish either being busted off or released (bravo!).  There’s still a few big roosterfish around but it’s late in the season for them, but the largest was in the 50-pound class.  No wahoo this week, but didn’t really have too many of our anglers devoting time to the wahoo and the few that did, came up with nothing.

However, we did hook some nice tuna.  Everyone wants a big tuna!  But you have to be careful for what you ask for.  Out’ve Las Arenas, there’s been a rise of the giant squid that I had mentioned before.  When the squid come up from the deep trenches, often the tuna come up as well.  Sure enough, we had some of the bigger tuna with some muscle show up.

Like I said, everyone wants a tuna, but a 40 or 60 pound tuna isn’t 2 or 3 times stronger than a 20 pound tuna!  Guys battled some big models between 40 and 100 pounds this week for an hour or more and came back saying, “Never ever ever again do I want a big tuna!”  There were stories of handing the rods back and forth between anglers and guys having their backs seize up on them as well as shaky-arm syndrome in the heat!  And then BLINK!….losing the fish!!!  It’s a long way and a long fight to lose a fish.  Great experience, but we warn ’em that it’s a home run hit and you better pull your socks up tight and high.  Tuna show no quarter.  The few fish we did get in were 50’s and 60 pounders…but very few compared to the number of hookups.

Weather wise…geeze…the air is heavy!!!  I can’t believe some guys are fishing in long pants!  Bring a big hat.  The sun beats down and this week it was also humid with some quick summer showers that were refreshingly welcome.  But sunscreen…t-shirt…shorts…flip-flops is the uniform of the day!

STILL NO FISHING LICENSES TO SELL so you have to purchase them online until the Mexican Government can print more up for the whole country.  Ask us if you need assistance!  But here is the link:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

Just remember to click the American flag to get English and also that the amounts are in PESOS!  So don’t have a panic attack when you see the amounts.  Just divide by 11 or 12 and you’ll see the prices in reasonable dollars.

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, 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 4-11, 2013

dorado joey kent 4 small tags 8-13

Joey Fuschetti and Kent Hawkins from Orange Co. California had a great 2 days fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. They got big racks of dorado, plus sailfish and pargo as well. They’re on the sand here in Balandra Bay. Joey has been fishing with Tailhunters now for 18 years!  Joey has been in the fishing report for many years but says he has NEVER been the first picture!  So…here you go, Joey!  Thanks , guys!

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From Ogden UT, Marcus Yoo, only had time to come down and squeeze in two quick days of fishing but made the most of it with 2 big days of dorado fishing and big bulls like this one…his personal best…that he caught off Las Arenas.

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Finally had the big squid show up this week and there’s nothing like starting the day out pulling these bad boys up from the deep to use for bait (or saving for eating!). The dorado and tuna both love them. Big grin from Russ Blount visiting us from Oregon holding up another big beast. The squid are just off Las Arenas.

dorado maricris bugatan 8-13 tags

First time in Mexico. First time fishing. First fish ever…a trophy bull dorado! The smile says it all. Maricris Bugutan gets a hand from Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet in posing with her trophy bull dorado.

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Our good amigo, Craig Corda, has visited us many times from his farm in the Imperial Valley CA and always seems to do well. He shows off one of his dorado with the classic pose and grin on the panga fishing off Las Arenas.

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This is a big fish and you can tell because Russ Blount is also a big guy! This bull dorado was one of several he caught along with a marlin his first day fishing with us this week.

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Not sure she wants to touch it! Maricris laughs at another big squid hauled aboard! This one ended up cooked up with garlic at our Tailhunter Restaurant that night for dinner!

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Captain Chito poses with my long-time friend and fishing buddy, Bob “Tio” Horton from Palm Springs CA The fish were caught around Espirito Santo Island and Las Cruces on a late-day bite.

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Yes…I still get out! (Thanks, Jilly) I’m showing off this bull mahi on the beach at Balandra Bay after a great day of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet We got limits that day.

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One of the best highlights of the week! Paul and Mike Zech from Sacramento CA like the street-cart hot dogs we serve at our Tailhunter Restaurant and showed up with these funny shirts! Just had to take a photo!

DORADO HELP WEEK FINISH FAST!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 4-11, 2013

The fishing week started out OK, then got kinda picky but everyone still got fish.  It was just one of those weeks where a boat would get 1 or 2 fish and the next boat got 4 or 5 fish for no rhyme or reason or you would go fishing and put 1 in the boat…then an hour later another fish…two hours later 2 fish….2 hours later 1 fish…and the day would go on like that.   And you would think, “Geeze…fishing is slow!”  Then you would look in the fish box or get back on the beach and realize you had nearly a limit of fish!

It might have had something to do with some strange cooler and greener water that just shows up mid-week. We didn’t have any storms.  There was no strong winds.  There was nothing that would tip-the-hand to show why patches of great blue water suddenly went dry on us!  Conditions were otherwise great…flat glassy seas…brilliant Baja sunshine…decent bait…patches of sargasso…but strangely very reluctant or absent fish.  You really had to work it hard to find them.

I made it out one day and we got a limit of nice dorado, but we must’ve put 50 miles on the panga going up, back out, in, around…we covered a lot of water.  By 1 p.m. we had only 3 fish in the box.  But, as our captains often do, our fleet hung out there and at 3 p.m.-4 p.m. the fish started feeding!  And we put another 5 nice-sized dorado in the box that topped out the day.

That is one big difference for us…especially for our La Paz fleet.  We’re out on the water at 6 a.m. and getting live bait.  We see some of the other fleets…some of them…not even getting out on the water until 7 or 8 a.m. when the sun is already up blazing and you can’t get bait that late.  Then, they’re back on the beach at 1 or 2 a.m. when our guys are still out there pushing to keep finding fish.  It really makes a difference when the fishing is picky.  And it often means the difference between 1 or 2 fish and a limit of fish…having live bait and staying out the extra time!

But, the nice thing too is that as the week went on, we got a great charge of fish at the end of the week.

Our La Paz fleet started finding better spots of dorado in the 10-20 pound class with some larger bulls to 30 pounds.  Using the bait we catch…caballitos, mackerel…then some sardines as well as fresh-caught bonito, we have several options most days for offering different baits to the fish.  The larger baits, I think, also are the reason we get more sailfish and marlin hook ups as we did this week with all fish being released.

For our Las Arenas fleet, it was also scratchy early-on with just a few dorado per boat, but pretty much all of them decent to monster bulls.  So, what we lacked in quality, we made up for in quantity.  However, later in the week the fish turned it up a notch and we not only got into dorado, but also had some wahoo hookups, some billfish hook ups and even a big 60 pound tuna found way outside.

The difference at Las Arenas, I believe, were the giant squid that finally came up out’ve the deep trenches.  We started catching these beasts, which not only make for great eating, but cut up in chunks are good for chumming up dorado around the buoys and chunking for tuna.  Hopefully, they’ll stick around.  Historically, when the big squid come up from the deep, the tuna often follow them up as well!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

dorado ziggy 7-13 tags

Yes, Ziggy! You finally made the first photo in the fishing report! Our amigo, Ziggy Haspod from Santa Barbara spanked the nice dorado all week fishing with Captain Boli and our La Paz fleet with limits every day including this sweet bull dorado.

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Best wahoo season in my memory in years! There’s still wahoo on the high spots around Cerralvo Island. Darryl and Kathy Pietek pose with Captain Armando and one of 2 skinnies they hooked. They lost another one that busted the Rapala off. The Pieteks are from Loma Rica CA.

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Sometimes, when you don’t try so hard, good things come to you! Mario Salazar from the Los Angeles area was on a billfish frenzy the 3 days he fished with our Las Arenas fleet. I think the final count was 8 marlin and sailfish in 3 days. I lost count. He was fishing with our Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet. This was a release so you get the great photo of him fighting the fish! Most of the billfish we’re hooking these days are all getting released.

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Richard Sellers came to visit us all the way from Australia to do some freediving and spearfishing. It started slow but by his last day he said, he had dorado and marlin swimming around him like he had never seen before. He did get this nice bull dorado and also another “mystery fish” none of us had ever seen before. Scroll down to the last photo in the report!

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Big smile from Steve Heune from Modesto CA was on his first fishing trip with us. As per my report this week, his first day, he fished with our Las Arenas fleet and they ran into one of those days when the fish were lockjawed. We switched them for their 2nd day to fish with our La Paz fleet and they stuffed the fish box with a limit of dorado!

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Might be my favorite photo of the week. It’s all about smiles. Dane Fuller pulling on his first marlin ever. Dane’s from Childress, Texas and was on his first trip to La Paz where he got his first marlin, and first dorado…and biggest dorado. Just a great Kodak moment in Baja. It’s not about fish in the box, it’s about smiles on the face and good times with amigos.

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One of our favorites guys…Donnie “Coach” Rea from Ventura CA always does well fishing with us. He’s showing off another big bull he got this week fishing with our Captain Marcos and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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That’s alot of mahi! A thirty-pound-class dorado for Mike Figley from Arizona that he caught north of La Paz. There’s some nice big bulls around right now.

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Lance Heune from Modesto CA holds the gaff on a day when he put a nice limit of dorado on the boat in short order fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

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Late breaking news…just as I was putting together the fishing report Sunday night, our pangas hit giant Humboldt squid off Las Arenas. They made great bait for the dorado (and great eating!) and usually means that if they stay around, often the tuna rise up out’ve the trenches and follow them up! Hope they stick around. Captain Archangel hangs one of the big squirmers here!

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Our Australian amigo, Richard Sellers (photo above with the dorado) shot this while spearfishing. He called it a “triple tail” but none of my captains or anyone we knew had ever seen one. In almost 30 years fishing and diving here in Baja, I’d never seen one or heard of one so we ran to the books and internet. There are very few mentions of photos of them in Baja but folks from the Atlantic and Caribbean know all about them where they are much more common and, in Australia, of course! At first, I thought I knew what it is. But, it looked like a cross mutant between a pargo and cabrilla! The triple tail was good eating!

 

LAS ARENAS FISHING PICKY BUT OUR LA PAZ BOATS FIND GOOD ACTION ALL WEEK!

La  Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

It was a pretty decent week of fishing. Not the greatest, but not bad either.  Let me explain…

I have to say that I’m thankful we have our two fleets with one of them in La Paz and one of them at Las Arenas.  It gives our clients some choices about where to fish and we can also move them if necessary to get them the best conditions or to find fish.

As sometimes happens, weather or fishing dictates that sometimes one side will be better than the other.  It happens.  Normally, this time of year both our fleets are bendo and deep into all manners of fish.

However this past week, Las Arenas really sorta dropped off the fishing map.  Not one was it rougher from some long distance storms to the south that brought in some chop and swell, but there was a lack of bait.  Additionally, the better fishing was either outside at the buoys or all the way out at the 88 spot.

One the good side, the buoys held some decent dorado and the 88 produced more of those monster bull dorado and a number of hooks ups on striped marlin, sailfish and even a few big blues (all billfish either released or broke off).  But that’s a long way to run and if it was one of those bumpy days and you were one of the pangas that scratched, it’s a long long day.

Las Arenas just wasn’t happening.  The captains worked hard and busted humps looking for fish or trolling, but it was just one of those weeks.

But, like I said, thankfully, we had our La Paz fleet.  So, folks would try a day or two at Las Arenas then we’d have them switch over to our La Paz fleet.

And everyone got fish!  Limits or near limits of dorado from punk-sized schoolies to 30-plus pound bull mahi as well as some stripers and sailfish and even a few sharks hooked up.  The fish were well north so it was a bit of a ride and the bite was often late…well past 1 p.m. So, often I had to tell our clients, just be patient and let the captain fish.  Don’t jump the gun.  Sure enough…the late bite came in and there would be the feeding frenzy!

Sometimes our pangas weren’t coming back until 4 or 5 p.m., but that’s because our captains were working it hard.  We go out at 6 a.m. often several hours before the other fleets and my guys are willing to stay the extra hours to wait for the bite when other fleets are coming back at 1:30 or 2 p.m.  It made a difference and all of our clients this week still went home with full ice chests!

Bait as tough for our La Paz fleet as well, but going out extra early, we’re able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos then go look for some sardines.  Then go hook a few small bonito.  By the time you hit the fishing grounds, you’ve got 2 or 3 different types of bait aboard and gives you an edge.  Add in some trolling and now you’re cooking with gas!   But, as I said, we just had to tell folks “be patient.”  Our captains are all working hard to find the fish.  And we found them.  It was just later than normal!

MORE ON MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES

A few weeks ago, we started telling you about the big SNAFU with Mexico not printing out enough fishing licenses for the whole country.  Big Oops!  They’re trying to find a KINKO’s to handle it, but in the meantime, everyone is scrambling.

Baja still does not have any printed fishing licenses to sell.  They keep telling us “in a few weeks” but we’ve been hearing that for awhile.  In the meantime, the only way to have fishing licenses is still to purchase them online or find a tackle store there in the U.S. that sells them over-the-counter or online (some will mail them to you).  However, for southern Baja, they now have their own website to sell them that works pretty well.  Here’s the link:

http://apps.bcs.gob.mx/finanzas/finaweb/fonmar/

Just remember that the amounts are in pesos so divide the number by about 11 or 12 and you won’t have a heart attack!

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 21-28, 2013

Kirk and ben rose wahoo 7-13 tags

It was a banner week for wahoo fishing this past week as we are in one of the best wahoo seasons in recent years. Kirk Rose and son Ben with Captain Armando just had one day of fishing to squeeze in with us and had never fished the area before and came up with the mega hat trick of three trophy wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet off Cerralvo Island

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On vacation from college at St. John’s University in New York, Marcos Holguin had two days of double wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

Mike Figley tuna 54lb tags 7-13

Mike Figley spent the week with us fishing 4 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This was his 2nd trip with us and I had just been telling him how strong tuna can be. He goes out the next day and tangles with this nice yellowfin that kept him bent for almost 90 minutes! He’s a believer now. He also got some great dorado fishing in! Mike’s from Arizona.

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Jorge Romero, our La Paz amigo, only had 2 hours to get in some fishing so he jumped on one of our pangas and between 9 and 11 a.m. he put 3 nice bull dorado in the box fishing north of La Paz. He was trolling some small hoochies behind the boat because he left so late there was no more live bait left.

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This trio had some fun! Tom Heaslet from Oregon along with Kathy and Darryl Pietak from the San Francisco Bay area, got 2 nice wahoo off Cerralvo Island. They also fished 2 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and plugged the panga with dorado each day.

DAne Fuller dorado big 7-13 tags

Dan Fuller from Childress, Texas, had a great week with us for his first visit with Tailhunters. He got his first dorado. He got his biggest dorado. He got his first billfish! He’s here with big smiles…a big bull dorado…and Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Heinke dorado 7-13 tags

This might be my favorite photo of the week. Big smiles from Bob and his son Bo Heinke from the Los Angeles area showing off big bull dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

wahoo steve holquin tags 7-13

Steve Holguin visits us each year but missed last year. He made up for it with two days of nice wahoo like this one from his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

smith sontag dorado 7-13 tags

These two amigos had 4 of the best days fishing…they got dorado, sailfish, marlin and several other species. Rex Smith from Arizona and Mike Sontag from N. Carolina had not shortage of big bull dorado like these two on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Group shot! Mike Figley, Bo Cullwell and Dane Fuller fished four days and on their fourth day had one of those wild banner dorado days that was a complete frenzy and will make for good story-telling filling 3 pangas with limits in short order and multiple hook-ups. They’re starting to unload one of the pangas here on the beach at Balandra Bay.

SLOW START PICKS UP STEAM AS FULL MOON RECEDES

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report For Week of July 21-28, 2013

The week started slow…picked up some steam…then sort of evened out as the week went on.  It took us a bit to recover from last week’s full moon with sporadic fishing, but some good catches of billfish for both our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets as well as some big dorado and even a few nice spots of 20-50 pound tuna that showed up north of La Paz.  As with previous weeks, although there might not have been a lot of fish, the quality of the fish gave many of our anglers personal bests in terms of their biggest fish ever caught or, for many, their first billfish caught and released.  It still wasn’t spectacular good fishing.

Then, the week suddenly turned on a switch and boom!  We had dorado going nuts for our La Paz boats where it was virtually one-stop shopping once the spots were located and dorado came crashing to the pangas with multiple hook-ups and our captains plugging the pangas within an hour of frenzied fishing and tired anglers coming back with frayed lines and big smiles plus ice chests full of fillets!

As well, we had a big-time flurry of wahoo and billfish late in the week for our Las Arenas fleets as well with some of our pangas getting 1-3 wahoo hookups per day and just as many sailfish or marlin.   Overall, the fishing for our La Paz fleet was better for sheer numbers while our Las Arenas fleet produced the trophy fish.

Some fishing suggestions if you’re headed down:

Bait has been hit or miss lately.  We’re doing a little more trolling than we’re used to.  Our folks are doing fine with what we have and use down here, in fact, most clients bring absolutely nothing with them.  However, if you’re coming down and want to fine-tune things a bit, I would suggest:

  • Some small trolling feathers.  Not many.  Surely two…a light one and a dark one with at least 60-80 pound leader
  • Little plastic “hoochie” skirts have been on fire.  We use them to sometimes catch bonito for bait, but the bigger dorado and tuna have really shown a liking for them the last two weeks
  • If the tuna are around, plain unpainted cedar plugs have resulted in some nice tuna catches as was as enticing some of the larger dorado and another plus is that the bonito don’t seem to like them
  • If wahoo are around or you want to chase them, Yo-Zuri Magnum lures or Rapala Magnum CD’s in black/purple or black/silver/white have been hot.  If you can or know how or can get your tackle store to do it, wire them up and take the treble hooks off and replace with single Siwash hook
  • Hook sizes for the varying types of bait we are using…#1, 1/0, 3/0 and 5/0 hooks.  Not circle hooks.  “J” style hooks
  • Flurocarbon leader in 30, 40 and 60 pound test.  No spectra

FISHING LICENSES

The Mexican government at CONAPESCA keeps telling us, “maybe in a few weeks” they will have printed fishing licenses again.  I guess that will happen when it happens.  However, for the foreseeable few weeks, the only way to get your fishing licenses to fish down here is to purchase them online before you come down.  The government did not print enough licenses for the year for the whole of Mexico so until the situation is remedied, you must purchase fishing licenses online.

Here is the link:

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 the whole of Mexico has to purchase their licenses online.  

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 14-21, 2013

Mike Sontag dorado huge tags  7-13

Nice way to start out a trip! All the way from North Carolina, Mike Sontag, visits us each year, but had an incredible week fishing with us starting right off the bat with several of these huge bull dorado that were all in the 40-50 pound class outside of Cerralvo Island.

wahoo rex smith tags 7-13

Rex Smith has been an amigo of Tailhunters for years and has caught pretty much everything in our waters, but wahoo always eluded him until this past week when he put the wood to this nice ‘hoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island in the background. Rex is from Arizona.

Alison dorado 7-13 tags

Hard to find someone more fun than Alison Nagatani. It was a little rough out of Las Arenas their first day fishing but she was still got this nice bull dorado…her largest ever. Shortly after this, she accidentally fell in the water and came up laughing. She got her first billfish this week as well.

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First-timer from Washington State, Colleen Russ, had a great week of fishing with big dorado and quite a few billfish like this one posed with Captain Victor from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. This one could not be revived and was donated. Colleen was just hoping to catch “one big fish” during the week!

John Wessner dorado tags 7-13

From Delano CA, John Wessner was game. Even fishing with a recovering broken wrist, he did great on big dorado and billfish this week. He’s shown here with one he got north of La Paz fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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For weeks we’ve seen signs of big tuna off Cerralvo Island although hooking them has been difficult. David Vicino from Cancun MX, didn’t wait for the to come up…he went down and speared this big 180 pound yellowfin! Thanks to Tim Hatler, our amigo at Palapas Ventana for the photo. Yes…the beasts are there!  For those of you not familiar with spearfishing in our waters,  all of it is done by freediving…no tanks allowed.  All breath-holding in whatever you can carry in your lungs!

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On a well-deserved break from the Air Force, Pat Russ will be heading to officer’s candidate school when he gets back to Washington but he came down for 10 days of fishing and diving and poses with another colorful bull dorado and big grins!

Jess dorado tags 7-13

Jess Escobedo from Los Angeles had never been salt-water fishing. He had never even taken a vacation in his whole life. So, it was great to have him visit Tailhunter this past week here in La Paz where he got his first dorado and billfish like this one caught near Espirito Santo Island. Check the video clip below of Jess fighting his first marlin!

dorado allen and josh 7-13 tags

Clarence Foster and his big hat pose with Allen Burgess and one of their big bulls on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Both of our amigos are from Kansas and spent a week fishing with us.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

From our amigo, Charles Belnavis, who owns Kelp Fishing Clothing and Shogun Tatoo in Pasadena CA (he’s the best of the best for inking all of us up in the fishing industry!)  http://shoguntattoo.com/

He shared this fun clip of himsel and Jess Escobedo (pictured above) getting lit up by a nice billfish!  At one point, there’s a double hook-up going!  Turn up the sound!  This is some fun video and not very long!

 

 

BIG DORADO BILLFISH

TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2013

The week had some highs and lows, but overall, many more high spots than low spots with a solid week of fishing.  We even had a little rain come in on us, but it was mostly just a little bump in the overall bite.

Again, it was a big of big fish mostly.  It’s been like that the last few weeks.  It’s almost like all the fish ate steroids or something.  The dorado, especially for our Las Arenas fleet tended to be 30 pound line busters or bigger.  It was not unusual to see fish on the beach that bottomed out our 50-pound scale!  That fills up an ice chest really fast with a fillet from even a single fish.  I had one panga go out and on it’s first day get 6 fish that were all around 50 pounds and they still had 3 more days to fish!

But, the size of some of these fish has been quite a story.  However,  the showing of billfish has also been remarkable.  I’ve not seen this many marlin in our waters in many years.  As one of our anglers this week said, “I had 4…5…6 billfish swimming around the boat all the time when I’m trying to catch dorado.  It was really funny because we would move the boat away and they would either swim after us or would show up again!  They were like pigeons waiting to be fed.  My first day, I caught and released three and that was enough!”

Most of the billfish, whether marlin or sailfish, fortunately are being released by the anglers so that’s been very gratifying.  Other times, the anglers go through great effort trying to revive tired fish and it’s only the rare billfish that’s being kept.  Mostly because there was no other option.

However, one fish that is NOT getting released is the wahoo.  Like the marlin, the wahoo bite has been far better than we have ever seen in years.  The wahoo are mostly lurking on the usual high spots around Cerralvo Island and trolling early with big lures has been the most effective.  The biggest hinderance can sometimes be that there’s far too much traffic out there with boats zig zagging all over the spots.  But…ni modo…that’s just the way it is when the bite is hot…especially for wahoo!  So, the earlier you get to the spots the better the chances!

Also, we got into several nice spots of yellowfin tuna again this week.  Like last week, they popped up for a few days and went crazy then moved off, but we had spots of tuna pop up for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets which was a real welcome surprise.  Nothing big, but fun 10-20 pound footballs are a hoot good time.  We saw some bigger 100+ pound guys moving through the areas real fast as well, but no one could get on them, but we know they are there!

Our biggest problem has been the lack of sardines for bait.  We’re going through one of those times again when sardines are hard to get.  But, at least for us, we’re able to jig up larger baits like mackerel, cocineros, caballitos, zebra fish, mullet and ladyfish!  That might also have something to do with why we’re getting mostly big fish!  It takes a big fish to eat a big bait!

If you’re coming down, a few tips…

1.  If you’re bringing stuff, this is one of the few times when I’d recommend bringing a few feathers.  All you need are two.  A dark one and a light-colored one  Also, if the tuna are around, the plain wooden cedar plugs have been deadly and the bonito tend to leave them alone.

2.  Bring a sabiki or lucky Joe rig with about a 4 oz torpedo sinker

3.  I wouldn’t be out there fishing with anything less than 40 pound test, although, if you’re a light tackle fan like many of our anglers, at least use 40 pound test leader or higher

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, 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.”

Read Full Post »

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