Spencer Sawaske from Northern California had a pretty good day. First, he released a marlin, then got this monster dorado fishing off Cerralvo Island on the south side and also near the Arenas lighthouse. Better dorado and marlin fishing were the highlight during a full-moon week.
Retired NFL linebacker and football coach...and one of Tailhunter's best amigos, Donnie Rea, shows off one of the nicer dorado taken this week with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of La Paz. Although bait continued to be slow to find, most boats did some pretty decent dorado fishing. Coach Rea was fishing with Captain Marcos.
Despite rapidly warming waters, pargo continue to be hungry and equally frustrating busting off lots of anglers. This one didn't get away. In fact, according to our amigo Dave Wehner who has been fishing with us 8 years, this big barred pargo came up and ate an entire slow trolled bonito Dave was using for bait! Later in the week, Dave nailed a 65 pound roosterfish on his itty-bitty bass rod that he fought for 90 minutes! His wife Mary then hooked up on a 150 pound blue marlin! Both fish were released!
Some nice tuna poked their heads up this week...albeit too briefly. Just enough to tease everyone . It seems everytime we get a glimpse of giant squid coming up from the deep trenches, we got some tuna following them up! We actually had a few 100 pounders hooked and lost, but this was one 50-pounder that Garden Grove amigo, Jonathan Navarro, caught near the Las Arenas lighthouse fishing with Captain Victor.
Retired firefighter Ed Basurto from Sacramento holds up one of the better bull dorado we got this week while fishing off Las Arenas near Cerralvo Island.
Rex Smith from Arizona and Fred Sontag from Arkansas and their other brothers Mike and John, had a nice day north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. They released a marlin and sailfish.
Captain Armando with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet helps pose a nice dorado for Dan who had never fished before but ended up with a handful as well as a marlin on his first outing. He outfished most of his buddies and said it was because he wore his lucky wristwatch.
Grand slam for Mal Young and dad, Bob. It was a delayed high-school graduation present that Mal waited 2 years for, but it resulted in a striped marlin plus this trio that shows some of the variety...a roosterfish, a pargo liso and a dorado!
It's summer, but we're still getting some colder water fish like this sierra held by Fred Sontag from Arkanasas.
This was probably our best week so far for striped marlin. This great shot was taken by Jonathan Navarro from Los Angeles as his dad battled the fish off Cerralvo Island
Fresh one! Rich Navarro hoists a summer-time bull dorado that bit a live sardine.
SUMMERTIME CONDITIONS PROMPT DORADO AND MARLIN TO WAKE UP!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 20-27, 2010
Things are definitely changing here finally. Winds have laid down quite a bit. Waters and air temps are getting noticeably warmer too. It finally feels like summer. Waters are high 70’s to low 80’s Daytime temps are high 90’s to low 100’s, but there’s still a nice breeze most times. Our anglers are telling us it’s one of the most pleasant June’s they’ve ever experienced here.
Co-incidentally, fishing has seemingly turned the corner as well. While not wide open, the warmer conditions finally brought in more of the top-water species. For sure, it finally kick-started all the marlin and sailfish that have been lazing around our waters for two months. “We had 8 swimming around our panga at one time!” said one of our anglers. It was not unusual to hook 1 or 2 this week. Many fish broke- off on the lighter tackle, but it’s gratifying to see so many anglers…especially first timers…releasing their billfish! Bravo! Our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet has been seeing most of the billfish action.
As well, there’s been a smattering of tuna in the 60-100 pound class as it seems the big Humboldt squid have come up to the surface from their trenches and that usually brings the big tuna with them. There weren’t many tuna, but here and there, they popped up and tore into a few of our pangas leaving anglers battered and bruised and, more often than not, with nothing to show after long battles where the fish broke off or got unbuttoned.
Also, we’re seeing many more dorado all around La Paz waters, but even moreso, we’re finally seeing bigger 20-40 pound bulls instead of the little punks we’ve been dealing with since April. Every day several fish in the 25-30 pound class have been taken at various spots. Check out the photos this week! Lots of dorado shots!
Bait is the biggest issue. We’re getting bait, but it just takes time to find it or wait for the bait guys to find it so they can sell it to us. Once you have the bait, the fish can be found. The fish are here…no doubt. Hopefully, that will change but we’ll keep an eye out for it. We’ve been using mostly sardines, but a few cocineros and even some big squid has been working or stripped out bonito for slow trolling the larger dorado.
FIRST PERSON REPORT
Thanks to Mike Sontag from Arizona for putting this one together!
“The fishing the week of June 25th was phenomenal. Besides having my fishing partner extraordinaire (Rex) with us, I was blessed with being able to spend quality time with my 2 brothers (both from the midwest).
The first 2 days launched out of Los Arenas with my brother tying into a beautiful marlin within an hour of being on the water. The fight was on with the fish showing us his size and attitude with a series of surface crashing launches and acrobatics. The fish won out after a 10 minute fight, but not without leaving a lifetime impression on my brother and me since I was able to watch the silly smirk on my brothers face for the durations of the hookup (I believe it s permanent as it still hasn’t left his face).
Not to be outdone, within another 30 minutes I had a sailfish on the business end of the rod while my brother provided commentary and helpful hints since he was now experienced at this sort of thing. The sail was a thing of beauty and after about 25 minutes was brought up next to the boat. Our masterful Captain Ramiro estimated it’s weight at about 40-45 Kg (90-100lbs). We performed CPR (catch, photograph, release) and let it go for another day.
The rest of our day as well as the same for Rex and my other brother was rounded out with a multi-species bad of pargo, trigger, sierra, dorado, amberjack, bonita, plus several roosterfish sightings.
The cream on top of this trip was day 3 out of LaPaz with limits of dorado for both our boats. All I can say is my two brothers will never be the same when it comes to fishing experiences of a lifetime. As with our previous visits – the professional hospitality and friendliness of yourTailhunter operation and the fishing captains are second to none.”
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm
Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
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Tailhunter Fish Report 