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.
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.
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!
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!
Surprisingly, we’ve had a pretty nice showing of trophy roosterfish the last month during a time when we normally don’t see roosters! But, they’ve been a great treat with fish like this one caught by Ryan Chipley who loves fishing the light tackle. Captain Pancho, normally smiling, helps out the shot. Note how close they are to the shore!
Great action continues for fun school-sized dorado like these despite cooling waters and increasingly breezy conditions. But easy limits are not uncommon like these fish caught by our good amigos, Bob Solee from Portland CEO of B & B Fishing Rods and Mike Anderson all the way from Kodiak Island, Alaska.
When you come all the way out from Wyoming for your first time fishing in salt water and you get a mess of dorado plus your first marlin, that’s pretty good for Rod Lang with amigo, Rick Kasper, outdoor and hunting TV show host. Marlin and sailfish are still in the area. This one could not be released, but fish was donated.
If you’d really like some light tackle or flyfishing fun, not much can top jack crevalle for attitude and power! Schools of the tough fish, called “Toro” (Bull) in Spanish are up close to the beaches and rocks right now and can keep you bent for hours as they’ll hit just about anything tossed their way. Larger ones can go up to 30 pounds or more.
BLUE WATER SPECIES HANG IN THERE!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 10-17, 2014
We had some really nice weather this week. A bit of breeze, but overall really just sunny pleasant weather. Normally, this time of the year, it can get pretty blustery although if you’re not on the water, just a genuinely nice time to be in La Paz because the town is almost empty of tourists and traffic. Great time to be in La Paz!
But this week, pretty calm overall and correspondingly some good solid fishing with good action on a variety of species.
Dorado continued to be the highlight with good to great results on 8-15 pound fish. Perfect for lots of the light tackle folks and snow-bird amigos who really aren’t in town to fish, but are in town these days just to get some sunshine and maybe fish a day or so. Some don’t have alot of experience so this size of dorado makes for great sport as well as great eating for a first-timer. But for veteran fisher-folks as well, nothing wrong with limits of dorado ripping it up either!
I’m still amazed at how well we’re doing on the rooster fish also! Normally, we just don’t see many rooster fish this late in the season. However, it’s been a banner year for the big pez gallos since April, so I guess I should be surprised. We kinda just think the roosters go away and once the dorado start showing up in May or June, the focus is away from the rooster fish and more towards the dorado and other pelagic species.
But, maybe this year, the rooster fish have been here all along!
About a month or so ago, just for grins and giggles, some of the anglers started fishing for roosters because they were just tired of so many dorado! And whoa…we started getting into roosters again! Not many…but certainly enough to be a nice cherry on top of a good day of dorado fishing to top it off with a bucket-list rooster or two! And these fish have been a nice grade as well…20, 30…even 50 pound fish have been taken.
This past week was no exception with at least a rooster or two caught and released every day running in that 20-30 pound class.
As for other species, still getting into billfish by way of striped marlin and sailfish. Again, it’s been a super event for some of our first-timers who don’t have alot of experience and suddenly find themselves attached to a leaping billfish! Most are getting released and have been in that 80-130 pound size.
Not sure how much longer the blue water species like dorado and billfish will be along, but predictions for the week show that winds will be down so maybe our season will continue to hang on with the fish!
A bandana-clad Captain Pancho protecting himself from the sun, helps Leo Green from Washington with one of his dorado. Dorado still biting around our area although seasons are changing. Still good numbers of school-sized fish here!
Big smiles from Amy Kasper from Wyoming who got a limit of nice dorado fishing with Captain Jorge with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
A good example of some of our cooler water species that are becoming more pre-dominant was the seasons change. Aaron Chipley holds up some of the best-eating fish in our area…a sierra and a cabrilla (Mexican seabass).
Jane Vanderzanden on her first trip from Oregon to visit Tailhunter in La Paz puts another dorado in the panga fishing with our La Paz fleet north of town.
Yes, we’re still hooking marlin and sailfish this late in the season. Bob and Craig Brown with Captain Armando hooked this one and weren’t able to release it, but donated much of the meat. They were fishing near Cerralvo Island.
Barney Wisdom and Aaron Chipley pose on the sand at Bahia de Los Muertos after another good day of dorado fishing.
Dorado are still giving us plenty of good action as Jeff and Craig pull up a few nicer models on the beach.
COOLER WATERS AND BREEZES STILL PRODUCE END OF SEASON FISH
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 3-10, 2013
We had a pretty good week of fishing here in La Paz, but once again, it’s obvious that the seasons are changing. It’s definitely cooler and windier these days and for at least two days this week, the winds and chop really hampered the fishing. However, for the most part, since most of our anglers fish several days, an “off-day” gets made up on other days!
The dorado really keep us in the game, as they have for the past two or three months. Lots of school-sized 10-15 pounders, but this week, we found a few jags of larger fish off Cerralvo Island wind permitting with fish in the 20 -30 pound category that could quickly fill up a cooler.
Almost all our fishing now is with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet unless someone really wants to fish out’ve La Paz As mentioned above, the winds are kicking up now and when the northern winds blow, it’s just too difficult to head north out’ve the bay and get beat up heading to the fishing grounds. It’s just easier to drive over to Bahia de Los Muertos and fish on the lee side of Cerralvo Island or the lee of Bahia de Los Muertos and still find fish without getting wet or your teeth jarred out’ve your head!
In addition to the dorado, we were also getting marlin and sailfish with all fish being released plus some pargo and cabrilla and no shortage of bonito for fun. A few rooster fish along the beach in the 30 pound class plus jack crevalle rounded things out. We did have several biters of wahoo, but the sharp teeth made quick work of the lines and no fish were brought to the boats.
15th ANNUAL LOS CABOS TUNA JACKPOT TOURNAMENT
In a dramatic last-minute win, after two-days of fishing, the boat “Reel Quest” pulled into the Cabo San Lucas scales with a 192.4 pound yellowfin tuna to sweep the money boards at the 15th Annual Los Cabos Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament.
With more than 540 thousand dollars on the line, 7 teams shared the purse, but the big money winner were the team on the “REEL QUEST” that took the big money of $242 thousand dollars with a 192.4 pound yellowfin tuna.
As is our usual this time of year, Jill and I spent the week working at the 15th Annual Los Cabos Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament in Cabo San Lucas. It was a great time. The slogan is “Fish Hard. Party Harder” and there was plenty of both with 4 days of partying and 2 full days of hard-core tuna fishing.
Seven teams shared the purse of over $540 thousand dollars with the big money being taken by the team on “REEL QUEST” who dramatically won in the last few minutes of the 2nd day of competition. They pulled in with a 192.4 pound yellowfin tuna to sweep the money boards.
The tournament was the largest of the year for Cabo San Lucas with 134 teams from around the world participating in the big event. In addition to the big money purses, the event also raised thousands of dollars for several charities.
In a surprising bite the last few weeks, trophy roosterfish have shown up around the Las Arenas lighthouse which has been a real bonus to many of our anglers like Dan Hicks, our amigo from Seattle WA, who never expected to get a roosterfish this week, let alone a huge 50-60 pounder that he caught and released! Normally, we don’t see roosterfish this time of year, but lots of our anglers are finding the exotic fish lately.
You can never start them too young and Damon Davis, is the perfect dad to show his 5-year-old son, Caleb, how to do it, since Damon runs a sportfishing boat in Orange Co. CA and his dad is our amigo, James “Hawk” Davis an avid ace fisherman who lives in La Ventana near La Paz. Damon was out fishing near Las Arenas this past week and is shown on the beach with Caleb at Bahia de Los Muertos.
Marlin and sailfishing has been unusually good the past few weeks and it seems we hook several a day. About 90% are getting released or busting off…not surprising since we’re often fishing wit light tackle, but they’re still great fun. Leo Green from Washington got this striper while fishing with Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish couldn’t be released but the meat was donated.
Good week for kids! And a great time for the family with all the school-sized dorado around right now. Clint Throop from Rockford Michigan wit his boy…6-year-old Christian pose with this fresh dorado fishing near Las Arenas. Another great Kodak moment that I”m sure Christian will always remember . (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)
Ed Hicks and Tiffany Isaacson were on their first trip fishing with us in La Paz. Tiffany wasn’t even sure she wanted to go fishing, let alone go to Mexico, but she’s convinced now. After a week of dorado fishing, she also got this nice sailfish off Cerralvo Island. Most of the meat was donated after it was not able to be released. Tiffany and Ed are from Washington.
From Oregon, Miles Brown, visits us every other year-or-so and always does well fishing with his dad, Rod. He shows off one of the school-sized dorado they caught off Cerralvo Island.
SOME RAIN AND WIND AS SEASONS CHANGE AND SEASON TAPERS BUT FISH STILL BITE NICELY!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2014
We had another solid week of fishing with dorado again at center stage, but the biggest event would be probably be Mother Nature posting that the seasons are definitely changing. Northern winds, at times pretty strong, pretty much blew all week. That’s significant for several reasons.
Not only is is a harbinger of the changing seasons, but it also heralds cooler waters and a changing of the guard as far as fishing is concerned. They are a tad earlier than normal this year, but nevertheless, as they continue to blow and cool things down, the blue water pelagic species will start to move off and we’ll see more inshore species.
Therefore, fish like marlin, sailfish, and dorado, that have been our mainstays the past several months will be replaced by more inshore species like pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle and sierra. Part of that, is also because it will be harder to get too far out away from shore anyway.
As the winds hit from the north, it can get downright wet and bumpy. That’s why we pretty much shut down our Tailhunter La Paz fleet mostly from December to March. Unless you want to get soaked and have your kidneys jarred, it’s just not worth it. It’s easier to have us shuttle you over to Bahia de Los Muertos and fish with our Las Arenas fleet where at least you’re somewhat protected and the fishing is closer.
However, this year, it looks like we’re closing down the La Paz side a bit earlier. This past week, even in La Paz Bay, the north winds had white-caps even in the bay! Plus we had rainstorm Raymond come through. Extremely late for a rainstorm, but we had one really good night of good rain. It didn’t affect the fishing and we still got out and got fish, but this is pretty late in the season to get a rainstorm although it did make for a nice cozy night to stay in and watch the rain in the bay from a seaside restaurant (At Tailhunters, we had a full load of folks watching football plus the rain outside and they enjoyed it!).
As, I said, we still got fish!
The dorado were still voracious most days with most of our pangs getting limits or near limits of fish…if that’s what they wanted. The dorado have been so prevailant that anglers would load up on more dorado than they wanted…even catching and releasing so many…that they would try for other species instead. So, the counts didn’t really reflect the reason some anglers didn’t get limits of dorado. It was because the anglers weren’t fishing for dorado.
Instead, the boxes and action were filled with other species…marlin and sailfish were still out. I’d have to say the billfish angling was good to excellent most days with, again many of the guys getting their first billfish caught and most released. As well, rooster fish up to 60 pounds were taken. Again, very unusual to see rooster fish this late in the season, but they’re there near the rocky and sandy areas close to shore at Las Arenas. A great opportunity for our some of our clients to check it off the bucket list and get one of these exotic fish.
As well, the counts also showed some nice cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper and pargo! Some of this is because the seasons are changing, as mentioned above. But, also because anglers were making a point to chase these species because they were tired of dorado. Alot of the anglers simply changed to light tackle…like bass gear and had some fun catching-and-releasing dorado as fast as they could go!
Also, we had wahoo hooked almost every day. I say “hooked” because almost every one of them hooked got off! Just fishing! But, obviously the speedsters are still out there. Some of the hookups occurred while guys were fishing for dorado and the dorado where schooling around at the panga and a wahoo would zip in and pick up the bait. On light tackle or straight mono, it’s not much of a battle when a wahoo going 50-70 mph with razor sharp teeth grabs the bait! If the hooks isn’t set “just right” it’s a short battle!
WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS TUNA JACKPOT 2013
If you’re in Cabo this week, that’s where we’re headed as well. The first week of November is always the popular crazy Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot one of the largest fishing tournaments in Cabo each year. Jill and I work the tournament which will take place from Wednesday to Saturday with the Wyndham Hotel as the anchor hotel. It’s always a blast with big fish a big parties! Both of us will be at registration on Wednesday and I will be working the scales while Jill is on the tournament central tent handling logistics. Of course, we’ll also be at all the parties and banquets to meet-and-greet! The motto of the tournamet is “FISH HARD and PARTY HARDER!” If you’re in Cabo, come say hi and watch the festivities.
Or, better yet…sign up! Here’s the link for all the info: http://www.loscabostunajackpot.com/
As of this writing, there’s more than 120 international teams already entered and there’s always room for you! C’mon down and play!
Another good week of dorado fishing as the season seems to be tapering off. But, the dorado still bit strongly. Both our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet and La Paz Tailhunter Fleet kept finding fish some of the schools very close to shore with fish ranging from 8-40 pounds. Thanks to Gary Wagner for the great underwater shot.
Some guys come for years trying to get one little sniff of a wahoo. George Kasee from Georgia was on his first trip and put this flyer in the box fishing off Cerralvo Island just before the storm hit. There’s still wahoo in the waters feeding off the high spots.
Yes…thats’ our famous Captain Pancho all wrapped up in the bandana, but he’s lending a hand to Kevin wearing his lucky fishing shirt that paid off with this marlin just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.
Captain Gerardo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet gives a hand to Michele Edwards from Loma Rica CA who was on her first trip with us in La Paz. She was here celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary and many thanks to them…they not only donated all their fish from the entire week of fishing but also brought down an incredible amount of toys, sporting goods, school materials and other things for the several charity groups of kids in La Paz.
This is what we’ve been using for bait the last few weeks…giant squid! They have worked great, not to mention saving some up to have it cooked up at Tailhunter Restaurant . But this is how we have often started our days with having to catch the giant squid like James Edwards here with Captain Gerardo.
Big smiles from Tera and Virgil Redwine from Washington State hold up some of their catch fishing north of La Paz.
It doesn’t take much in La Paz for the streets to flood. After just a few minutes, we’re plowing through several feet of water like this past week when Tropical Storm Octavo dropped rain on us for a few hours. But then, as fast as it comes, it stops and the streets dry up.
ANOTHER LITTLE STORM PASSES THRU BUT DORADO AND OTHERS STILL COME TO PLAY!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct 12-20, 2013
Well…another storm has come and gone. “Octavo” rose up out’ve nowhere and blew in…and out. It wasn’t as bad as anticipated. But, it still made for a day of rough seas…some crazy rain for about a day…and some winds.
Fortunately, since we have our two fleets, we were able to adjust folks and move them so that pretty much everyone who was supposed to fish got to fish instead of sit around the pool or hang out in their rooms. Las Arenas was too muddy and too rough to launch so we had everyone fish with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and, at least we got out there and most folks were still getting fish.
And that’s the story…these storms are called “Toritos” (Little Bulls) that rise up out’ve nowhere when warm waters hit the right air and suddenly there’s a little blip on the weather screen that starts to swirl. It’s the nature of thing down here in tropical zones. They blow in and roar. And just as quickly they blow out. We had that one day and the next day the sun was out and the waters were calm and it was “fishing business as normal!”
Dorado were still the main attractant. Most days, it was limits or near limits of the mahi for both fleets. One day, however, it would seem like all the fish were the smaller school-sized 8-15 pounders. The next day, the fish were all 10-20’s. Some days the bite was late with literally nothing going on for hours then a frantic 11th hour free-for-all. Other days, it was pick…pick…pick with a fish here and another there…and two…then one…resulting in a full box. Other times, it would be an early melee then nothing the rest of the day resulting in searching for other species. We generally instruct our clients to just hang in there and be patient and do what our captain suggests. He wants to catch fish as badly as they do. The days when folks didn’t do well were the days when folks decided to do something different an chase species that were harder to get…like cabrilla…pargo…or tuna. But, in most cases folks know they take the chance and aren’t disappointed when they might strike out a bit.
One of those fish that is normally elusive this time of year is the rooster fish. However, several days this week, rooster fish showed up and these were a nice-grade 20-50 pound fish. We found these bruisers around the Arenas lighthouse area. They weren’t there every day, but when they were there, they bit pretty readily and were a great surprise since normally, we don’t’ see roosters this time of year. However, for alot of our clients who got them it was great for them to get one of these exotic fish!
The other big surprise were the number of marlin and sailfish we hooked this week. I mean…wow! Several days it seems like almost every one of our pangas hooked at least 1 or 2 billfish each. Again, an unexpected thrill and sometimes when I would see the numbers or a panga and see that they didn’t get many dorado, I would check and it turned out they spent a good part of their day tied up on marlin fighting the fish for several hours! Well done…most of the billfish were released also or broke off to fight another day! I think many of these fish are in the area chomping on the small dorado in the area as well as the squid.
A few wahoo hooked and lost as well this week so the fish are still here as well, but conditions are changing and the waters are clearly cooling down as we got a few more pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra which are all cool water fish.
Mike Liberski from Washington is fishing with us this whole week. One thing on his bucket list was a marlin. It didn’t take long. His first day out with Captain Pancho, he scored this blue marlin estimated at 160-180 pounds. Good one Mike…he got it up for a quick photo and released the fish to swim away strongly! Bravo! Quite a few billfish in the area the last few weeks! Check out the flat waters. Only about a mile outside of Bahia de Los Muertos!
I think I will frame this photo taken underwater of a nice bull dorado by amigo, Gary Wagner who owns the famous Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo San Lucas and has his place in Bahia de Los Muertos as well.
Celebrating their 29th anniversary, Craig and Kathy Sanford came up for the week to visit us and spent several days on the water tangling with some great dorado like these two bulls taken north of La Paz. Craig and Kathy are from the Phoenix AZ area and are standing on the beach at Balandra.
We have been trying for years to get John Hughes and his dad Carl down to visit us from their great operation at Aurora Fishing Charters in Seward, Alaska! They finally made it down and got into our great dorado bite but Carl also got his first marlin and John got his first roosterfish with Captain Armando and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Check out Aurora Charters at: http://www.auroracharters.com/ for some great halibut and salmon fishing in Seward, Alaska!
Big smiles from Virgil Redwine from Moses Lake, WA. Virgil was here celebrating his anniversary with his wife and took a number of fine dorado on the flyrod like this one just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos!
Beautiful posed shot of a nice bull dorado caught by our amigo, Gary Wagner, who takes time off from his famous Giggling Marlin bar in Cabo to come fishing up at his place in Bahia de Los Suenos (Bahia de Los Muertos)
Big smiles from first-time visitor from Portland OR, Baine Dupee and another colorful dorado he caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet around Espirito Santo Island. Mom, Tanya Dupee looks on. Baine also got his first striped marlin on this trip!
It was a great week for billfish with lots of hookups and fish either lost and most released. Eric Johnson from Washington got his first billfish with Captain Adolfo driving the boat and he battled this one with Cerralvo Island in sight. Fishing 3 days, they released most of their fish but were not able to release this one and donated much of the meat.
“Uncle Bobby” Dominguez from Hacienda Heights CA really wanted his photo in this week’s fishing report. Well…you made it Bob! He shows off a really nice trophy barred pargo he pulled off the reef while fishing from Bahia de Los Muertos. Nice work, Bob!
All the way from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Mike Anderson came down for a quick two-day run with us and got into some nice dorado like this one while fishing with our La Paz fleet.
Can’t beat the colors of a dorado! Jeremy Lord just put this one in the boat off Espirito Santo Island. Jeremy is from the Sacramento CA area and was on his first visit with us at Tailhunter in La Paz.
John Hughes took this photo of a “small” 25-foot whaleshark that came up and swam with their panga for awhile. It’s that time of the year when whalesharks visit our waters and John got this great shot, but kicked himself for not jumping in the water to swim with the big fish. The gentle animals are true sharks, but eat plankton and small krill and grow up to 50 feet and are a big attraction in La Paz for scuba divers and snorkelers.
Captain Rogelio helps out Devon Boatman from Lake Elsinore CA with another nice bull taken while fishing around Punta Mejia.
DORADO STILL BENDING RODS BUT POSSIBLE STORM COMING THIS WEEK!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct 6-13, 2013
As I write this, we’re watching our computers screens wondering if the storm cell to the south of us is going to head our way and turn into a tropical storm and bring with it, some winds and rain our way. We’ve dodged quite a few bullets this year and our last few storms have veered away at the 11th hour. We just have to wait and see. I’m not worried so much about a little rain or some thunder showers. Those come and go or you can alway drive away or around cloudbursts. Fishing is rarely affected.
However, wind is all encompassing and can make for chop as well as turn-over-the-water. Plus, it can cool waters and, if they are northern winds make it pretty much too uncomfortable to be fishing. So, we’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve got alot of fishermen here this week and we surely hate to disappoint!
Anyway…
It’s been a good week of fishing. The full-turbo dorado bite we’ve had for two weeks died a bit, but everyone was still getting dorado. For numbers, our Las Arenas fleet plugged easy limits of fish between 8 and 20 pounds. For larger quality fish, our La Paz fleet got fewer fish but the fish were larger between 15 and 30 pounds. Bottom line…if you wanted dorado, they were there every day for the taking. Our light tackle and flyfishermen especially had a good time with this grade of fish.
However, there were some surprising other species as well.
There’s giant squid in the water that we’re catching for bait but those are also drawing marlin and sailfish into the area and we’re hooking a nice number of billfish…and releasing most…but they’re alot of fun. Our biggest of the week might be 180-pound-blue that was released. These fish are also feeding on the smaller dorado and bonito as well.
But, in addition to the billfish, we hit some jags of rooster fish as well. These were fish in the 15-40 pound class and were in the Las Arenas area near the lighthouse and in Bahia de los Muertos. Normally, it’s pretty late in the year to be encountering roosters, but a great catch for many of our anglers who weren’t expecting the exotic fish! All roosters were released.
Additionally, pargo and cabrilla showed up on the counts leading me to believe that waters are starting to cool. For sure, we’re getting more and more north winds indicative of coming winter conditions. Normally, we don’t see this happening until November but looks like we’re in the transition period.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Compared to other years, this has been a banner wahoo season! Kelly SooHoo, from Pasadena CA was on her first fishing trip…on her first trip to Mexico…and first time on the ocean…and she bags a prized wahoo! She was fishing with Captain Armando off Cerralvo Island.
Good as it gets! Double trophys fish for Jim and Dan Bovee from San Diego who came back to the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos with a big dog-tooth snapper and hefty bull dorado!
Our Washington amigo, Ed Vander Veer, has fished with us many times and this was his 2nd trip of 2013. But, he had never caught a wahoo. This week he was in the thick of a dorado bite fishing with Captain Chito out’ve our Tailhunter La Paz fleet when the rod goes off. He thought it might be a dorado at first, but then a tuna. As the fish got close to the boat…SURPRISE…a wahoo…on bait and with no wire! Meant to happen! Great catch!
With the rains just about to hit in the background, Mike McArthur, from Los Angeles, still put a limit of dorado in the panga in short order and made it back in time! Check out the colors on this fresh one!
Big smiles for Mary Heilman Vander Veer who always does well with her favorite La Paz Captain Pancho and show off a nice bull dorado she battled on light tackle!
Our kinda family! Scott McKenzie and sisters Jana and Loren visit us yearly and the gals fish hardcore and are as competitive as Scott when it comes to fishing. They fished 5 straight days and pose here with some of their dorado from one day with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Fun and games for Mike McArthur and his dad Jim with a boatload of dorado after fishing a day with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
Nathalie Espejo is always fun to have down to visit us and she loves to fish! Captain Armando helps her out with a big dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.
Ray Pellegrin is probably happier than the dorado he’s holding, but Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to the pose!
From San Jose CA, Lily Chung had never fished La Paz before but had a great several day fishing with us and she smiles with another dorado in the boat!
ANOTHER STORM PASSES THRU BUT FISH DON’T MIND GETTING WET! BITE ON!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 1-8, 2013
We got another surprise storm this week with Tropical Storm Lorena suddenly rearing up and dropping some wind and rain on us. This is the 3rd week that we’ve gotten a surprise shower or two.
However, like the other weeks, it didn’t bother the fishing! The fish don’t mind getting wet and here in La Paz, it wasn’t that bad. The rains mostly showed up at night and, although it rained hard here and there, the rain was mostly gone by daytime. The biggest factor is wind when these storms hit and as long as the winds aren’t tossing the waves around and it’s safe to get out, we’re still out there fishing, although we know of several operations that canceled their boats.
That being said, the fish continued to check quite nicely!
Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet did mostly limits of dorado each day. If I had to tell you what the difference was, in La Paz, there were much more fish. They were eager and the fish were almost right in La Paz Bay. We didn’t have to go very far. This was great, especially on those days when cloudbursts threatened. So, everyone got fish!
At Las Arenas, the fish weren’t as plentiful, although fishing was good. But the fish were generally larger than the fish at La Paz.
So, if you wanted fast and furious action with double and triple hookups, our La Paz fleet was better If you were out to maybe get larger dorado, then our Las Arenas fleet was the better choice. Since most of our clients fish a few days on each side, everyone was able to pack their ice chests with filets!
In addtion to dorado there were again some nice wahoo hooked although many were lost. Often, the wahoo showed up right where the dorado were feeding and made short work of light live bait lines! However, a few were hooked “just right” on the light tackle and made it to the pangas with much high-fiving and knuckle-bumping!
As well, we stuck a few marlin and sailfish with most of them getting released plus rooster fish, jack crevalle and some huge bonito!
The surprise fish were the pargo that we were hooking including some big dog-tooth snapper and mullet snapper that we usually only see in the spring, plus also some sierra which are really rare this time of year since we only get those during the cooler months. That leads me to believe waters might be cooling already for the season. We’ll keep you posted!
He looks a little tired for good reason! Sherman McDonell from Rock Springs, Wyoming had an epic week of fishing even tho’ fishing was way off. It’s hard to argue with big fish like this dorado and with Captain Armando and armed with a spinning rod and reel and 17-30 pound test, he went hand-to-hand with big dorado and roosters fighting fish for long battles of 30 minutes to over an hour and coming back a happy bloody mess each day and a big grin! I don’t think he got a single fish under 45 pounds all week. He calls La Paz his “happy place.” Big grins from Captain Armando.
Young Dan Whittlesey from Washington just graduated from high school and came down with dad and grandpa. He toughed-out a really rough week of scattered fishing but did get this incredible bull dorado with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and Captain Victor holding up the tail.
From San Diego, Cole Chavira has been fishing our waters several times a year every single year since he was about 6 years old. He usually outfishes everyone around him and has been on these pages a zillion times! No exception here with this big rooster he caught and released off Las Arenas lighthouse.
It’s tough when you only have two hands and two big floppy heavy bull dorado, but Captain Armando helps Shelly McDonell with her catch after an epic big fish day at Las Arenas where she battled each of these fish on light tackle and spinning gear almost 2 hours each. Shelly rocks. She hunts and she fishes like crazy.
It’s always good when first-timers do well and even moreso when fishing is not that good like it was this past week. But Luke Brownlee from Green River, Wyoming put the wood to several big-time bull dorado like this one and the help of Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter fleet at Las Arenas.
When you come all the way from S. Africa and you have never ever been fishing, you make a great funny face when you land the biggest and first fish of your life like Jo Biddle holding a trophy dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos! Great shot!
Vegas in the house! Sandie Herrera really wanted a rooster and got hers here fishing off Las Arenas with Captain Pancho. The fish was released.
Great pose from Mitch Chavira, our San Diego amigo who was fishing north of La Paz when he stuck this dorado and got the great shot. There weren’t alot of fish this week and you really had to work it, but the fish that were hooked were generally all quality slugs!
Ron Burgess is our amigo who released that potential world record roosterfish last week. He fished with us the whole week and just was on fire! He also got his big dog-tooth snapper as well!
Norm Whittlesey has been fishing with us for many years. He hung in all week when fishing was really erratic but did manage this super dorado fishing with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Check out the colors! I think I want to frame this photo!
Jason Takayoshi was down on his first trip with us. His experience was typical of how our fishing has been this past week. His first day fishing out’ve Las Arenas, they got goosed-egged. Totally skunked. Not even a bite! And Jason is an experienced angler! But, he kept up the smiles. Next day..his last chance…he fished with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and ended up high-boat for the fleet with some big dorado as well and amberjack and multiple hook ups including fish on the iron. He’s posing with two of the big dorado here on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.
Talk about a “gamer.” Kris Brownlee gets the award this week. Wow…rough water and seasick and she still hung in there and was not going to be deterred from fishing and kept smiling the whole time during the whole week! It was her first time to visit us in La Paz and she got some nice fish pulling on her like this hefty jack crevalle she caught and released with Captain Jorge.
Marie McClelland from Park City UT was another of our visitors on her first trip fishing with us and outfished lots of the regulars! She took this bull dorado north of La Paz fishing with Captain Alfredo.
Here’s a big boy rooster! Darryl Herrera and Captain Pancho hold up the kind of rooster that made our area famous! They caught this guy just off the beach at Las Arenas (you can see the sand in the background) and released it to fight another day. Darryl is from Las Vegas.
Charlie Detrick came down to see us from Washington and although he didn’t fare well his first day, he smoked the rods on some nice dorado the 2nd day like this sweet slug of a dorado he’s holding on the beach at Balandra!
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Almost world-record rooster…Here’s a really well-produced video clip of Ron Burgess’ roosterfish he caught last week that might have been a new IGFA record. We will never know because he sportingly released it to fight another day! It’s not a long clip and well worth watching! Dave Lester, his amigo did a great job on it!
ERRATIC WEEK OF FISHING IS TOUGHEST OF SEASON
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 23-30, 2013
This past week might have been the toughest fishing week of the season. It was a difficult week on so many levels with erratic fishing and conditions that just seemed to make no sense.
We can only attribute it to a collision of the “perfect storm” of variables that all came crashing in on us…
1. Colder than normal waters brought on by late season winds turning waters murky and green. Sometimes the winds almost like “winter winds” and the waters are so green you can’t see through it. On the surface the water can be 80 degrees, but a few feet down it’s 65! We can often see fish all over, but they are just not interested in eating!
2. The “super moon.” Normally, the full moon is not a big concern for us. But, this past week, they billed it as the “SUPER MOON.” It was the largest, biggest, fullest full moon of several years. Resultingly we had incredibly low tides and strong currents. Combined with everything else, it hit us hard.
3. Hurricane COSME…it didn’t hit us and fortunately veered hundreds of miles off-shore. However, it did bring some big swell and waves from the south as well as some evening showers. This contributed to rough water conditions for a few days as well as adding more muck to the over-turned ocean that was already in bad shape.
So…that was it in a nutshell.
On a more pragmatic level, it meant lots of our amigos had some disappointing days fishing. Rough waters and no fish. Flat seas and green water. Seeing fish that didn’t want to bite. Unusual long runs to find blue water. YIKES!!!
This is the time of year when we should be and normally are slamming fish. Instead we were scrambling to find good water and fish that were interested in coming to the party.
On the upside, the fish were were hooking were BIG! Take a look at the photos! We didn’t catch many fish, but the fish were beasts! Big roosters and even bigger dorado were the rule rather than the exception. Roosters were routinely 30-50 pounds. Dorado…wow…few of them were SMALLER than 40 pounds. There were a few days where there wasn’t a dorado smaller than 45 pounds on the beach.
That created some problems of it’s own. There’s a reason fish get BIG! That’s because they are smart and tough. If we had CAUGHT as many fish as we hooked it would have surely been a better week. I mean, hey…when you come down and the biggest fish you might have caught in your life is a bass or a steelhead or a rainbow trout and suddenly you’re hooked up to the biggest fish of your life and you’re sweating and you’re now on a fish for 30 minutes…then 45 minutes…then an hour or more…in the hot sun…and you pull a little too hard…or your button down the drag…or you backlash the reel…
A 40 or 50-pound fish is not twice as strong as a 20 pound fish. It’s EXPONENTIALLY stronger! It’s a beast that EATS 20-pound fish for breakfast and takes it personally against you that you stuck a hook in his mouth! They are mean and they are pissed off and they growl. It’s not like they’re gonna let you you just pull them into the boat!
The fish is just asking to get lost!!!
Even many of our most veteran anglers were losing these big fish. And after you fight a fish that long, it’s often too late and you’ve drifted too far to find another hook-up. You get one chance at a huge fish and if that opportunity is lost…whether by angler error or simple bad luck…that’s it! You come back with nothing! We had folks fishing 1, 2, 3 days in a row with that kind of luck. Hooking several fish a day and losing the fish. Not much can be said. That’s just the way fishing was this past week.
The majority of the fish were big dorado and roosterfish, but we did have some amberjack, good numbers of jack crevalle, some marlin and sailfish (lost) and surprisingly a number of sharks pop up (and off!). Some of our catch might also have been a function of the bait we were using. Because of the conditions, bait did become a problem…especially finding sardines along the shallows. So, we used mackerel, ladyfish, small bonito, ballyhoo, small tuna, mullet and zebra fish as bait which were all effective.
Hopefully, better things this coming week even as you are reading this! As I write , conditions seem to be improving!
Tailhunter Fish Report 