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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of Nov. 2-9, 2014

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Captain Armando helps Marty Koschnitzke with a nice bull dorado caught out’ve Bahia de los Muertos. Marty squeezed in a day of fishing and had a few dorado and other species put into the panga.

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The wonderful Ehlers Family from Colorado! John and Dolores at center. Tyler Ehlers and Cheyenne Weinholtz holding dorado on the outside around grandpa and grandma on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos. These were typical-sized fish this week.

 

 

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A much “larger model” for Mike Caray from Portland OR on his first trip with us fishing La Paz. Good day on dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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Captain Pancho and Dennis Weinholtz have big smiles with a bull dorado just south of Las Arenas. Dennis is from Colorado.

 

SEASONS CHANGING – SO IS THE FISHING – AND THE FISHERMEN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 2-9, 2014

After nervously watching to see if late-season hurricane “Vance” was going to make up it’s mind and give us a scare, it turned into not much of anything except a few raindrops and some wind!  And we’re not complaining. It’s pretty late in the year to be seeing storms like this and, you can tell how many storms we have had by the fact that we’ve almost gone through the whole alphabet and are on letter “V” for “Vance.”   I think we’ve had enough for awhile.

Anyway, in anticipation of some kind of stormy event, most folks stayed off the water Tuesday and Wednesday just as a precaution.  Admittedly, Tuesday was really windy…far too windy to want to put anglers out there getting wet and bounced around.  So, it was easier to just tell folks to hang out in town.

However, on the other days, we did have some OK dorado action with fish in the 10-20 pound class.  Most of the bite was near the south end of Espirito Santo Island and near El Rosario plus just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

The latter area seems to hold the most variety right now as we transition towards cooler water fishing.  In addition to the dorado, we also hooked a few billfish including sailfish and small striped marlin…pargo…cabrilla…jack crevalle and a few more of the decent sized 30-50 pound rooster fish.  But, the majority of the bite this week consisted of a variety of inshore fish like the jacks, pargo and bonito..even some small amberjack and sierra which are normally cooler water fish.  Fun light tackle action.

It will be interesting to see what we do with this full moon right now. But, as of mid-week it hasn’t affected the fishing very much.  There’s a definite drop-off in the number of anglers this week as we head into November.  So, that by itself makes it hard to gauge the fishing.  It’s hard to be completely accurate. When there’s a large number of our anglers out there scattered over the fishing grounds, it’s easier to find the hot spots.  Plus, the “anglers” are changing as well.  From March to October, we have more hardcore anglers, but now with winter setting in, we have more snow-birds who just want some sunshine and maybe a day on the water fishing.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 25-Nov. 2, 2014

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The ladies and the youngsters had a GREAT week! Like young Katylyn Luker from Santa Maria CA! Right out of the chute, her first fish on her first day is a big wahoo! Captain Moncho signals touchdown!

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Another one of our amigas who had a banner week, Lisa Hicks from Seattle WA, put the hurt on this chunky wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island using a Rapala.

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Vic Patton has been one of our regular amigos for many seasons! He and Captain Victor show off a real trophy…a dog-tooth snapper! Also called a Cubera Snapper, these are tough tough fish and getting the out’ve the rocks is an accomplisment!

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Two more of our first-timers…Mike and Robbi Caray came down from their farm outside of Portland OR to enjoy some sunshine and had an incredible day on some big dorado like this 40 pound class beast! Mike fought this fish for over 45 minutes!

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Brothers Andy and Raphael Montejano had one of THOSE kinds of days…Andy nails this big rooster and Rafi put the hurt on a wahoo. It was their first time fishing and they also got dorado and snapper on an incredible day.

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Our new amigo from Idaho, Tom Mullican, was here for almost two weeks of fishing. He was going to fish a few days then take some days off then fish a few more days. After two days of dorado fishing he decided he was having too much fun and booked fishing EVERY SINGLE DAY!

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One of the nice surprises of the week was the appearance of the big roosters again. Captain Victor holds up a fish caught by John Hardardt. The fish was released. They are near the rocks just south of Bahia de Los Muertos.

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Captain Boli help our long-time friend, John Ehlers from Denver CO, who just got done working at a lodge in Alaska and brought his family down to La Paz. John had a great week on dorado and other species with Captain Boli.

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Another one of the nice wahoo we picked up this week, Rod and Nick get an assist from Captan Jorge with their “hoo while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

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Brian Mee from Washington, shows another example of one of the crazy variety we had this week. Using light tackle, Brian brought back a catch of cabrilla and tasty sierra…usually not seen until our waters cool down.

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Kris Honkola from San Rafael CA and his amigo, Marcus Dyster all the way from Finland , took this quick photo of one of their sailfish they caught north of La Paz. The sails were thicker than we’re normally used to!

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Just a beautiful photo…Sean Gould at sunrishe…the cast…and the HOOKUP!!!

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Captain Archangel is all smiles with Mike Davis’ nice wahoo. Mike is from Santa Maria CA and got his first wahoo this week.

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Hard to find someone more fun or enthusiastic than our Seattle buddy, Dan Hicks. And he knows how to fish too and loves the light tackle. He had a great week on the dorado!

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Talk about variety…Jeff Solum…Mike McMurray and Jeff Solem with Captain Jorge pose with a baby wahoo, a big pargo and a dorado.

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Roy Zimmerman from Fullerton CA is one of our regular fishing amigos who always does well, but had a tough week on the fishing grounds. However, he DID catch and release this nice rooster south of Bahia de los Muertos.

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Our Colorado family…Dolores Ehlers, Cary Ehlers and Laura Weinholtz on the beach behind La Concha Beach Resort with three nice dorado and a jack crevalle.

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Another nice wahoo in the box! Captain Armando with Gary Austin from Oregon and brother Glen from Utah.

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More variety and good eating! Laura and Dennis Weinholtz from Denver CO with a couple oof nice dorado along with a huge pompano!

 

CRAZY WEEK…NOT ALOT OF QUANTITY…BUT SOME GREAT QUALITY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 25-Nov. 2, 2014

 

It was a different kind of week.  It was good for good fish but not good for ALOT of fish!  Let me explain…

You’ve heard of “Quality over Quantity.”  Well, it was THAT kind of week.  There were NOT alot of fish by our standards although there were some nice flurries of dorado, bonito, jack crevalle, sierra and other fish that kept rods bent.

But, those fish could be there one day and gone the next.  Or they could be in one spot and move the next day or be there for 30 minutes of madness then the ocean would be calm again and not a fish in sight.  That’s just the way it is right now.  The seasons are changing.  Water and air temperatures are cooling and we’re transitioning to the winter season which is approaching.   Shadows are different.  Current are different.  The wind is starting to blow stronger from the north.  It can be a little choppier.  We’re going to get some days that the winds might even be too strong to fish comfortably.

The upside to all of this is that there are a tremendous number of species!

Just check out the photos!!!!  We probably had as many as a dozen different species of fish…inshore…offshore…blue water…rock fish…We never knew what our folks were going to come back with.

And that’s what made this week really different.

We didn’t have LOTS of fish.  We had a lot of DIFFERENT FISH.  AND we had some real QUALITY FISH!

Like check out the wahoo this week!  This had to be one of the best wahoo weeks of the season. We had one day when almost every one of our pangas hooked at least one wahoo around Cerralvo Island. And these were nice healthy 30-50 pound fish.

Also, for the first time in many months, we got 30-60 pound rooster fish and some huge dorado as well up to about 45 pounds and many others that were lost!

The dilemma in this kind of fishing is that you don’t get many chances.  If the fish aren’t milling about, you might get one or two big bites…FOR THE ENTIRE DAY!  It might be a big wahoo.  It might be a big dorado or rooster fish.  For whatever reason, if the fish gets off or you miss the bite or you have your beer in your hand…that’s it!  It’s a missed opportunity and the rest of the day could be nothing more than a few bonito.

Or, conversely, there’s two anglers in a panga and one gets a trophy of a lifetime and the other guys twiddles his thumbs the rest of the day.  So you get one really happy fella and one saying, “Fishing was really slow.”

One thing however…our ladies, kids and first-timers sure had it going on!  Many of them got the big wahoo or big dorado and many of our veteran Tailhunter anglers were the “other guy” in the boat relegated to taking photos!  But, it was great to see so many of the rookies kicking butt!  Still…I won’t kid you.  We did have some disappointed folks who ran into some tough fishing…which then often changed around the next day.  Or not…

I think we’re gonna see more of these variable conditions in the next coming weeks as we transition into winter.  Overall, however, you can’t ask for prettier conditions just to be here in La Paz.  Days are not humid.  Just nice sunshine and 85-90 degree air temps.  It looks like a postcard.  Most days are flat calm.  The water is still in the 80’s.  Night temps are comfortably in the 70’s.

One head’s up…looks like we do have a bit of rain coming this week with a late-season storm that could hit us mid-week and get us wet and stick us with some strong winds.  Then, it moves off quickly.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 12-19, 2014

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Wahoo like these were the highlight of a somewhat erratic week of fishing that saw some great action, but also some slow fishing during the middle of the week. However, the appearance of these speedy trophy fish were a big plus around the south end of Cerralvo Island.

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Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara make several trips a year to La Paz and had a good day to start with this big-headed wahoo while they pose on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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John Rogers from San Ramon CA has fished with us before, but says his boys, Jay and Jared are now “hooked” and “can’t wait to come back!” after three days of fishing like this including dorado, cabrilla, pargo, bonito and their first marlin.

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Captain Blas helps out our Washington amigo, Nash Johnson, with a nice sailfish that he battled on light tackle for 45 minutes north of La Paz. The fish was released. They also got dorado as well.

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Great pose from Alexa Kadota with one of several dorado she caught while fishing with dad with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

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Big bull in the boat for our Idaho amigo, Steve Snead, who put this bull dorado in the panga while fishing with Captain Joel ear Espirito Santo Island.

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Mike Vonderahe and Mark Chism had to almost canceled their trip after Hurricane Odile, but were able to make it down from Oregon and started their fishing days off with some decent dorado fishing like these! They also got in some scuba diving later in the week with whale sharks!

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Bob Layko from Vancouver WA loves to come down each year to celebrate his birthday with his cousin, Craig Brown. Captain Pancho poses with Bob and Craig on the sand to show off quite a variety of fish including dorado, palometas, pargo and a cabrilla.

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Big smiles for a big cabrilla caught by Niels Michaelsen who came all the way from Finland! Captain Boli jumps into the picture as well. The big fish was taken near Espirito Santo Island.

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Just to show off some of the variety this week, Erick and Nash Johnson showed up with some pargo mulatto (barred pargo) and red snapper. Dad and son are from Washington.

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Not a bad day for fishing for Alexa Kadota. A nice dorado AND a nice wahoo in both hands!

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Great shot from our amigo from Denmark, Jens Riis, who had to cancel a kayak trip to the island, but logged in some extra fishing time instead. Fun, hard-core fisherman!

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Dennis is from Greece! He’s got a nice bull dorado fishing with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. That’s El Sargento/ La Ventana in the background.

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We call him, “The Mayor!” He’s one of our most favorite amigos and was not going to let the hurricane prevent him from a few days in La Paz. George Gill started his trip with some nice pargo and snapper. He also had a full day pulling on dorado as well!

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Double fisted dorado for Manny from San Diego.

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Whalesharks have returned to the warm shallow waters of La Paz and this past week was a great opportunity to snorkel with them!

SOME SLOW SPOTS BUT OVERALL A DECENT WEEK OF FISHING WITH VARIETY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 12-19, 2014

Perfect weather.  Perfect water.  Sunny days.  Just a hint of breeze.  Very little humidity.  Could not ask for better conditions. It has been some of the best weather of the season.  Like a postcard for the Chamber of Commerce!

So…what happened to the fish?

The week started well with a nice jag of wahoo and a smattering of tuna mixed in with decent dorado, especially around Cerralvo Island.  Dark-colored deep-running Rapalas put the hurt to the wahoo…up to 50 pounds…live bait enticed the tuna…while the dorado ate pretty much anything.  Some sailfish and marlin were hooked.  The week looked promising!

Then, it sort of just fizzled.  It was like the fish took a holiday or something.  We struggled to get even a single dorado to bite and we resorted to having to go inshore for sierra, pargo and cabrilla.  Mix it up with some rooster fish and jack crevalle and that’s the bite.

I wish I knew.  Last week when we had a full moon…in fact we had a full lunar eclipse…the fish bit pretty nicely.  This week with a minimal moon, the fish are all lock-jawed.

Maybe things are cooling down a little too fast.  You can feel a bit of fall/winter in the air and northern winds are starting to creep in.  So, maybe the fish are adjusting.  But the middle of the week the bite literally just seemed to die.

As we turned the corner into the weekend, thankfully things picked up! For no explainable reason.  I didn’t notice anything that had changed.  But… Dorado started crashing again plus a few wahoo, billfish and rockfish (pargo and cabrilla) so that rescued the latter part of our week.  Hopefully things stay on the upside for awhile as we head down the backside of the season.

DONATIONS FOR HURRICANE RELIEF SNOWBALL FROM GENEROUS AMIGOS!

Collected over 500 pounds in two weeks!

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Alen Jones, Victonda Sheasby with Dr. Dennis and Tina Harper showed up with several tables full of school supplies, clothes for kids, playthings that filled about 100 pounds of ice chests and suitcases!

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Nash and Steve Johnson from Washington got contributions from friends and neighbors and had a full load of clothes and medical items like aspirin and first aid supplies.

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Two long-time friends of ours, “Modelo” Dave Pollard and Hector Chacon from S. California brought in two full ice chests stuffed to the limits with goods. Their respective families put out the word with with friends and the donations started rolling in. In addition to travel-sized toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoos and school items, their daughters hand rolled dozens of t-shirts so that could pack tightly into two 70-quart ice chests!

The generosity continues.  It started as a trickle just after Hurricane Odile almost a month ago and has turned into a wonderful flood and outpouring from so many of our friends and clients.  Over the last two weeks we have been posting pictures of some of our Tailhunter friends, and there are more this week.  However, this is by no means all of them!  There have been so many donations.  Some bring enough for a group of sherpas to carry.  Others bring a bag or two or fill some empty space in the corner of a suitcase or tackle box.  It’s all fantastic!  For those who lost so much…or everything…it’s all appreciated.  And it’s almost overwhelming that we’re speechlessly grateful.

Since Jill started the drive, she’s probably collected over 500 pounds of supplies and items in just the last TWO WEEKS ALONE!  And more arrives daily!  She’s making sure it’s all accounted for and going to needy groups where it will do the most good.

So on behalf of all of us at Tailhunters, God bless you all for your help and big hearts!  We are blessed and humbled beyond words.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of Oct. 5-12, 2014

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Late breaking news! SUNDAY…Wow! Lookit this! WAHOO DAY! Anyone in the S. California fishing industry knows pro Danny Kadota. He and his daughter Alexa were with Captain Victor today and got THREE wahoo and had another one bite through 250 pound mono! Check out Alexa’s massive ‘hoo!

 

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FOOTBALL SEASON FINALLY? The football-sized yellowfin tuna finally made an appearance for the year. There weren’t many of them, but the sprinkling of fish were a nice surprise the last two weeks like this one by Steve Snead from Boise Idaho, who had a great week. He’s here with Captain Pancho.

 

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Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet poses with Jim Adair and Brad Baker and one of the larger models of dorado we got this past week. They’re on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Don Busse found a hot spot for rock fish this past week showing off a nice rack of cabrilla and big triggers. Our amigo was fishing with Captain Pancho.

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Louie Sanchez, was not going to be denied his Baja trip to celebrate his 50th birthday and anniversary with his wife and family. After the hurricane, they jumped through all kinds of hoops to get down from home and Denver and got in some OK dorado fishing.

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First-time tuna for Ken Campbell from Lakewood CA with amigo, Jeremy Friez (helping out holding up the tail). Next time we’ll get Ken to eat the heart…as is the custom with first-time tuna takers!

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Steve Snead had a great story. He finally got his marlin off the bucket list. He was already hurting from a bad back, then tied into this gorgeous 150-pound class striped marlin. On light tackle, Steve and his back battled the first for 45 tough minutes. He got the fish out just long enough to take a picture then released it swimming strong. He came back to shore and went bed with a big smile but completely whupped.

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She’s a champ! Young Sierra Sanchez is only 8-years-old, but was quite a trooper coming down to La Paz and fishing for the first time. The youngster is from the Denver, Colorado area and shows off her first dorado proudly with Captain Joel.

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Determined to make it down, Steve Walker from idaho and his amigo, flew into Loreto then took our 5-hour shuttle to La Paz to make sure not to miss their fishing trip! Steve’s got a nice big bull on the gaff here that he caught north of La Paz.

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I don’t know how he stays so clean fishing in all white clothes all day! But, Chris Malley had a pretty good week including these two yellowfun tuna he caught off Bahia de Los Muertos!

GIFTS FOR LA PAZ

Don Busse and his gang…Ken Campbell…Jeremy Frieze…John Gibbs…Jim Adair…Brad Baker…Angelo Oliverio…and Chris Malley…brought in several hundred pounds of supplies and clothes for Jill’s hurricane relief efforts! it filled several duffle bags and ice chests! Since the hurricane, Jill has collected over 400 pounds of things for needy folks post-Odile.

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Wiley Randolph from Fullerton CA…another big heart ….and a great shopper…brought down brand new kids’ shoes, schools supplies and medical first aid things for Jill’s hurricane relief efforts.

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Jill, Cortez, Sierra and Louie Flores…all the way from Denver for the week and stuffed their bags with clothes, schools supplies and other great stuff for the hurricane relief. Big smiles and big hearts. Thanks to a wonderful family.

 

AIRPORTS OPEN – FISHERMEN COMING BACK – SO ARE THE FISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 5-12, 2014

Since hurricane Odile, three weeks ago, we’ve played cat-and-mouse with some erratic weather that seems to keep popping up and dropping some thundershowers on us now and then.  Mostly, it’s been great weather, but like the rest of the season, we do have to keep watching the weather reports and the horizon to check for building thunderheads.

However, for the first time since as long as I can remember, I’m looking at the weather forecasts the last few days and into the next few weeks and there’s zero precipitation forecast.  There are no little “weather icons” on the internet with little clouds and thunderbolts or rain icons on top of the daily advisories!  We’ve got gorgeous 95 degree sunny weather for days and fishing conditions could not be better.

As for the fishing, it’s making a comeback.

The fish got hit pretty hard too with the crazy weather and green dirty water really mixed it up from the storms and the run-off and it takes times to settle in.  Each week, the water seems to get a little better.

Fishing isn’t great, but it’s good most days and there’s even some jags of “very good” thrown in.

LA PAZ FISHING

Dorado have been the most consistent players, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.  There are spots of dorado just inside La Paz Bay and in various places around Espirito Santo Island, but the best concentration and larger fish are around the Rosario / Las Cruces area in the channel between La Paz peninsula and Cerralvo Island.  Fish aren’t bit, but they’re fun decent fish of 10-20 pounds with an occasional 30 pounder.  Some days are better than others.  Some boats will get limits some days while others right next to them will hit only a handful of fish or less.  But, the fish are there!

Likewise, there seems to be a nice bit of marlin and sailfish around right now.  Most have been caught incidentally while fishing for other species, but we’ve been hooking them all last week.  Not alot, but every day is different.  We had one day where almost every one of our pangas hooked at least one billfish.  The next day there were only 2 hooked.  Next day nothing.  Day after that there were 4.  All fish either broke off or were released except one which was kept and donated.

As a little sidebar, we had 2 wahoo hooked and cut off as well this week.

Late update:  Got some wahoo late Saturday off Espirito Santo Island!

LAS ARENAS

This area has been a bit of a puzzle this past week.  The biggest news is that we got our first football yellowfin tuna in a long long time.  There’s some spots of tuna that keep popping up around Cerralvo Island with some fish up to 100-pound reported by commercial fishermen.

The bad news is that we only got about a dozen footballs all week that went 12-20 pounds.  That’s it.  There are so many bonito around that you catch about 20 bonito to get one tuna…if at all.  I mean, it’s alot of fun and alot of action.  But, if you’re looking for some good ahi meat to take home, it’s alot of energy.   Still, it’s nice to have the tuna around!

The other downside is that if you spend the better part of your day chasing tuna, you won’t get much else.  So, the counts have not been real good for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.   When they DO chase other species, there’s dorado around and the pangas will get 2-8 fish hooked up per day and the counts differ.  It all depends if the guys went after the tuna or not.

So, what alot of our guys are doing is getting their dorado and ice chests filled by fishing La Paz, then specifically going for tuna with our other Tailhunter Fleet at Las Arenas.  Seems to work out OK.

Last minute update:  Five wahoo taken on two pangas late Sunday up to 50 pounds!

HURRICANE UPDATES

We’re up an running.  Airports are open.  Flights are in.  The Los Cabos Airport officially opened months earlier than anticipated on Oct. 3rd and welcomed their first flights on United and Alaska on Oct. 8th with mariachi bands and water cannon salutes!  Other airlines are coming online.  La Paz and Loreto Airports have been open for several weeks.   Still doing some cleanup in the streets and to some businesses and homes, but the heavy work is mostly done and most things are running like normal.  Most visitors would never even know anything happened!  Come fishing!

 That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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

CNN weather

BIG AND ANGRY! ODILE sat right on us.

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Odile’s tracking path up the Baja

 

HISTORIC STORM  RIPS INTO BAJA

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

What a week!

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

WHAT HAPPENED:

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

WHAT IT WAS LIKE

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

AFTERMATH

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

LA PAZ

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

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Debris everywhere. Many trees and plants were completely denuded.

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

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Phone lines and power poles askew

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

CABO SAN LUCAS

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

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

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The remains of Cabo Airport.

IN THE PAST WEEK SINCE HURRICANE

LA PAZ

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

Destruction in downtown La Paz

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

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The La Paz waterfront malecon soaked and sloshed

CABO SAN LUCAS

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

 

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

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It got ugly during the looting

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What’s left of Cabo Walmart

TAILHUNTER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IF YOU WANT TO HELP

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

La Paz Rises

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

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

FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

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

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

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

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

God bless.  That’s our story

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The track of Hurricane ODILE as of Sunday morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Another in a long string of crazy weeks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AND FISHING AGAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 10-17, 2014

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Another pretty solid week of dorado fishing with some really nice bulls taken including this sweet one that jumped a bait and bent Steve Dorsey’s rod fishing north of La Paz.

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Captain Adolfo poses with our Colorado amigo, Frank Kunze who fished with us all week and had a good shot of dorado including this nice bull he got on the flyrod after just missing a rooster on the fly. He’s on the beach here at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Ed Sakuda was on his first visit to fish Las Arenas and we think he’s “sold” on coming back with 3 days of dorado fishing. His sister Caryn and her husband Mark Aizawa from Pasadena CA get in the photo too!

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Daniel Llerena from Buena Park had never fished salt water before and his dad hadn’t fished in salt water in more than a decade! The two of them came down and got in two quick days of fishing with some great results! Dan was fishing with Captain Joel when he put the hurt on this mahi.

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Lee Carlson from the Denver Colorado area, spent 6 days on the water with us fishing with both our Tailhunter fleets and shows off one of his better bull dorado he got near Cerralvo Island.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action.  The family is from Upland CA.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action. The family is from Upland CA.

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Gino and his son Daniel Llerena got in two quick days of fishing and made the most of it with some nice dorado as well as this striped marlin on light tackle. Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Kelly Soo Hoo has fished with us before and did really well. This time she brought her son, Nick, for his first experience. Nice had a great time and got a variety of fish including these very tough jack crevalle!

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From Bankor, Pennsylvania, Rich Normyl had a full hand of mahi. Check out the storm clouds coming up behind him at Bahia de los Muertos!

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The whale sharks have returned to La Paz bay. Dan Hayler took this great photo of a “baby” whaleshark of only about 20 feet in the shallow bay water. They can grow to over 50 feet long and are true sharks, but are gentle and have no teeth and eat plankton.

This is what 15 minutes of rain produces on the La Paz waterfront right in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant Bar.

 

CRAZY WEATHER PACES FISH BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2014

 

Even with the week of “super moon” we still had a pretty decent week of fishing going on.  Even with the tropical thundershowers late in the week that were almost like baby hurricanes, the fish still bit.  But it was a bit of a challenge.  But, like I said, the fish still bit.

The super moon was beautiful over Baja waters, especially here in La Paz over the bay making it much like a postcard with the huge bright moon shimmering over the bay and the palm trees.

The big problem was more of these afternoon thunderstorms that crashed into us late in the day.  Fortunately, mostly after the fishing was done.  But something to watch.  Blue skies would darken quickly.  Incredible lightning storms would follow then almost simultaneously thunderclaps that would sound like they were right overhead.  During one 2 hour period during one storm, over 70 light night strikes were counted.  During another storm, a bolt hit a palm tree on the malecon waterfront area igniting it which then caused it to fall on the palapa roof of a popular bar.  The bar caught on fire then burned to the ground with huge flames 30 feet in the air.

Within minutes of the thunder and lightning the rains would cascade.  Huge rolling waves of sheer water flooded streets and turned many into rivers and lower areas and arroyos into raging category 2 or 3 cauldrons that would’ve been the envy of whitewater kayakers…except they were all brown mud!

Cars suddenly found themselves up to the doors in water and many stalled.  Neighborhoods found themselves turned into islands with people trapped in long rainy lines unable to leave the area and others in the opposite directions unable to return home.  Off the La Paz cliffs, mini-Yosemite-like waterfalls tumbled 20, 30 40 feet to the roads along with rocks and boulders.  In a one hour period during one storm, more than 3 inches of water descended on La Paz.

But, like I said as far as fishing, at least most of this was all taking place later in the day or evenings when the fishing was done.

LAS ARENAS

There was only one day during the week when we decided it wasn’t worth it to fish Las Arenas because of the stormy conditions.  The rest of the time, for the most part, Las Arenas was pretty much as good as it has been all year.  Relatively speaking.

We actually even had small sardines to use for bait and we had flyfishers hooking rooster fish, dorado, jack crevalle and bonito.

The dorado were 5-15 pounders with a few 20-30 pounders as well.  If a boat found the right spot, limits were pretty easy.  Roosterfish, while not as plentiful as earlier in the season were still around with most in the 10-30 pound class.  Bonito, jack crevalle and even some barred pargo gave us some variety.

LA PAZ

Our La Paz fishery has been the most consistent all year.  Some days are better than others, like anywhere else, but 9 out’ve 10 days, the fish are around and biting.  Even on that 10th day, I’m not sure what the issue is, but anglers and my captains will tell me…”The fish were all around.  We could see them or they would sniff the baits, but just wouldn’t take the baits!”

That was usually made up for on the other days of fishing when the dorado would be found in many areas from just inside the bait to the island and then around the point to El Rosario and Las Cruces.

Generally, the fish were 10-15 pounders although there were still persistent squirts in the 5 pound class around.  But, larger 20-30 pounders were not uncommon.  We also hooked some marlin and sailfish with most being released as well as some stray rooster fish that ran about 30 pounds near Espirito Santo Island.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 3-10, 2014

Jack Calafata tags dorado small 8-14

First-time visitor to La Paz with Tailhunters, Jack Calafato from San Diego got one of the larger dorado of the week scoring with this nice bull on his first day of fishing while on the water near Bahia de los Muertos.

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Our good friend for many years, Bob Lederer, from Massachusetts with Captain Ramiro and a trophy bull dorado taken at Las Arenas.

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Somewhere behind this fat round roosterfish is Rich Normyle from Bangor, Pennsylvania. His first bait hit the water and got spanked by the big fish and took 20 minutes to get to the boat. It was photo’d and released. Captain Raul with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet looks on and “helps” with the tail!

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Captain Pancho is all smiles with our Oregon amiga, Mitch Bohna, and her dorado she hooked very close to the beach off Boca de Alamo.

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Not a bad start to several days of fishing. Dennis Adair from N. California and Doug Oclassen from Colorado pose with a nice bunch of mahi on the sand.

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Big smiles from Kris Brownlee who gets a hand from husband, Luke, with this fine roosterfish that chased a live ladyfish between Boca de Alamo and Bahia de Los Muertos justt off the rocks. They caught and released several nice fish.  They’re from Rock Springs, Wyoming.

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Captain Armando poses with our amiga, Shelley McDonell on the sand with a nice bull dorado that still has its colors. Shelley and Captain Armando always make a good team every year.

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The ladies had a good week! Captain Jorge and Patty Lovato from the Denver, Colorado area on her first trip to fish with us in La Paz.

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OC in the house! From S. California, Brendan Rowland, Dr. Mark Mulkerin and Ed Begany spent a few days fishing with us at Tailhunter and got into some good action with 2 days fishing at Las Arenas.

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Dennie Dyer and Matt Lederer were just fishing with us and insist they got a yellowtail! Take a look. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but Dennie does seem to be holding a yellowtail…a fish we only catch in the colder waters! It might be a rainbow runner (yellowtail cousin), but hard to tell. Still a nice catch and tasty too…with the dorado!

DORADO KICK IT IN AT LAS ARENAS FINALLY !

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 3-10, 2014

Once again, dorado really kept up the for both our Tailhunter fleets this past week.  Weather and water were fairly cooperative and threats of rain, while bringing some clouds, never materialized and, instead helped keep the heat away, although the humidity was still pretty thick.  All-in-all, a pretty good week of action!

LAS ARENAS

Over the past few weeks, this has been our tougher spot.  There have been fish there all year, but lots of small fish and not a whole lot else.  It if weren’t for the rooster fish there or the fortuitous marlin or sailfish plus jack crevalle and bonito, it would be a real yawner.  Don’t get me wrong.  Still good fishing!  But, historically, this time of year, Las Arenas should be on fire instead of a steady smolder.  But, we’ve been spoiled all these years.  The lack of bait hasn’t helped.

Many of or clients have switched to our other fleet at La Paz to get not only more fish, but bigger fish!

Not so, this past week.  We actually had the migration of clients doing just the opposite!  We had clients wanting to spend more time fishing Las Arenas than La Paz.

For one, it was a little easier to get bait.  In fact, we even had some small sardines by the end of the week.  Whether the fishing was a function of the bait, or there were simply more fish in the water, the quantity as well as the quality o fish improved.

There still weren’t alot of “beast fish” with most of the larger fish being 20 pounders or so with a few 40 pound dorado.  But, the “smaller fish” were much better.  Instead of the 5 pound punks we were getting all season, the upgraded models were 10-12 pounders and limits of fish were fairly common.  As one of our anglers said, “We could honestly have caught 10, 20 or more dorado each day,  if it wasn’t for the fact that we wanted to get more variety and went chasing other species 1/2 way through the day.  We got all the dorado we wanted!”

Sorry, no tuna have shown up…yet!  And wahoo fishing hasn’t been so great either the last few weeks.  However, there’s quite a few marlin and sailfish around if you want to chase them.

Even our flyfishermen got into the fish this week as well!

LA PAZ

For the past few weeks, if you wanted to fill your ice chest, we had you fishing with our La Paz fleet.  More and bigger fish had been the rule rather than the exception.

This past week, Las Arenas actually stepped out a little better.

It was still good for our La Paz anglers, but it seemed like there were more small fish than normal and not as many.  However, if you wanted a shot at a 30-40 pounder, La Paz still gave you the best opportunity at a trophy.

The fish are in a wide area.  You can seriously find fish right in the bay.  In fact, we can see dorado, roosters and jack crevalle breaking just a few hundred yards in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant every day from our 2nd and 3rd floor terraces and birds working the schools like crazy.  So, if you honestly didn’t want to go out too far, the bay is definitely holding fish.

Other areas are just south of Espirito Santo Island and along the current breaks west and east of the island.  Another hot spot that’s actually being shared by both our Las Arenas and our La Paz fleet is just offshore from El Rosario/ Las Cruces/ Punta Gorda north of El Sargento.  Some of our largest fish every week come from that drop off area where the shallow water falls off into the trench.

If you’re looking for billfish, sails and marlin are being caught right in the middle of schools of small dorado.  Presumably, the billfish are in the schools feeding on the smaller fry dorado.

Roosters are getting round along the beaches too!  Still some hog 40-60 pounders around.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 4-11, 2014

Matt Garrett wahoo 5-14 small tags

Nice “skinny” for Matt Garrett from Washington who pulled up this nice wahoo that ran about 30 pounds just off Cerralvo Island. This was Matt’s first trip to La Paz. The wahoo have been pretty consistent now the last few weeks. We’re taking a few every day.

droado tags small Vince Bussio pettit group 4-14-proc

This is the kind of dorado we like to see! Big bull dorado on the beach caught by Vince Bussio from Utah! There’s a few other dorado tails down by his feet as well.

wahoo sandy davis 4-14 small tags

Great photo, smile and colors as Sandy Davis poses with a fresh wahoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island. Sandy is the sister of our good amiga, Donna Thompson who rocks the fishing grounds and lives in La Ventana. (Thanks for the photo!)

Marion Lawver pargo small tags 5-14

Kansas City  in the house! Marion Lawver  pulled this nice dog-tooth snapper (pargo perro / dog-tooth snapper) out’ve the rocks. Tough tough fish that is all teeth, sharp gills and scales and lots of power. But they taste great! Nicely done!

Don Henderson Bill Cook tags dorado small 4-14

Some nice mahi on the beach as Don Henderson and Bill Cook from Idaho hold up a couple of dorado they caught with our Tailhunter Fleet and Captain Victor.

Rick Rieken tags small 4-14

Rick Rieken from Las Vegas has his hands full with a nice dorado and a nice wahoo! Some fish packing is in order. Muertos Bay in the background.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It’s late in the season, but whalesharks are still in our La Paz Bay. Early this week, Jill and I took a few hours to snorkel with the hoping to find maybe 1 whale. Instead we ended up in the water with 8 of the gentle creatures! This one glides by the panga and is about 20 feet long! A baby…they grow over 50 feet long!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

With water only between 10 and 15 feet deep and incredibly warm, the big “babies” are feeding on plankton near the surface and often gulp their meals by opening their mouths and letting the food flow in! One of them seems to be giving Jill a big smile as it came next to our panga. We were snorkeling with our good friends at Fun Baja.

DCIM100GOPRO

It’s a great experience to get in the water with huge creatures and we had EIGHT of the “baby” whalesharks around us while we snorkeled for a few hours in water that was only 10-15 feet deep. Schools of foraging bait fish accompany the big whalesharks and feed off the leftovers! This big guy waited very patiently while I took his photo.

 

FISHING STILL ERRATIC BUT SOME QUALITY FILLS THE GAPS

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 4-11, 2014

 

Winds continue to be a problems…some days.  Others it’s barely breezy.  But this type of weather is consistent to this transitional time of year when it’s not quite spring and still not quite summer although air and water temps are relatively warm.  So, some days, it can be pretty bouncy out there limiting our range and style of fishing while other days, it’s like a pond!

Fishing is reflective of those conditions as well.  If it’s windy, we’re somewhat confined to inshore fishing, although that can be quite good for cabrilla, snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, small to large rooster fish and even some late-season sierra.  On the days that we’re able to range a bit further (fortunately, we never have to THAT far for our fishing!), we add to that list the larger dorado and wahoo which bit pretty well this week, especially off the north and south end of Cerralvo Island.   The wahoo were most aggressive in the early morning hours around sunrise and mid-morning and ranged from 20-40 pound fish.  Trolling with dark-colored Rapalas and Yo Zuri’s worked best.

The rooster fish saved us quite often with fish right up near the beaches and rocks going 25-50 pounds.

Summarily, it was spotty action.  Straight on…

It’s hard to explain.  You can do OK one day and, even tho’ conditions had not changed much, you can really struggle the next day.  Different boats do differently each day.  There can be long stretches of little action suddenly punctuated by the zing of a line going off or jetting jerked outta your socks by a fish slamming the bait or lure.

Bait continues to be a problem.  From what I’m hearing, the el nino has been plaguing the entire Baja.  I’m getting communications from the East Cape as well as Cabo asking if we have bait to sell or send.  I heard from friends in Loreto that they are also having trouble with live bait as well.   We’re making do with what nature gives us these days.  We’re using larger baits like stripped bonito as well as mackerel and caballitos…that all make excellent bait, but it’s not like you can throw handfuls of larger baits into the ocean for chum like we’re used to doing with sardines.  We are also using live ballyhoo as well.

One note of optimism is that I’m getting reports that out at the 88 bank outside of Cerralvo Island there’s lots of small mackerel and caballitos and small bonito balling up.  These are palm-sized fish that are super on the hook and we’re looking hopefully that in the week or two that area could blow up on us.  Last year, in the summer, the 88 turned into dorado and marlin candy land with dorado all going 40-50 pounds and marlin cruising the area in great numbers as well.

We’ll keep you updated!

Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours!   Hope it’s a good one!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

 

 

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

Taylor Murphey wahoo small 4-14

We got into some wahoo this week and we’re not surprised that young Taylor Murphy fishing with grandpa Roger Thompson got one of them. She always does well. A purple Rapala off the south end of Cerralvo Island did the trick.

Karyn Jennings fish on beach 4-14-proc

Birthday girl! Karyn Jennings was fishing with her husband Greg and had a good birthday week with us in La Paz. Here she shows off a day’s catch with a great mix of dorado, cabrilla and wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. A good bunch of fillets was cooked up at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Karyn is from Colorado.

Dorado Steve Bradley small tags 4-14

First timer, Steve Bradley who lives in Northern California on the Smith River was out with Tailhunter Captain Pancho and got his first dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. He also got his first rooster, a 30 pounder that was released and lost a larger fish as well.

Wahoo john nagy 4-14 tags

John Nagy from Marina del Ray CA slips quietly in and out’ve La Paz and just nails the fish! I think he got our largest wahoo of the week with this 4- pounder off the south side of Cerralvo Island on a blue and white Rapala. He was fisihing with our Tailhunter driver, Esteban and they also got one other wahoo,  2 pargo, and released a marlin. Nicely done!

 

yellowtail Jenny Raul tags 4-14 small

Yup…still a few lingering yellowtail around in the cooler water. Jenny celebrates with Captain Raul from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and shows off this big slugger forktail caught near Espirito Santo Island. Jenny is from Colorado.

KLING Ron dorado small tags 4-14

Captain Victor “El Jefe” from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet poses with first-timer, Ron Kling from Byers, Colorado who came down to catch his first roosterfish. On this particular day, he got 5 roosters between 40 and 50 pounds which he released! And he kept this nice dorado for dinner!

Greg Jennings 4-14 tags

Guys come for years trying to get a sniff from a wahoo fishing our area. Greg Jennings nailed one his first try fishing with our Taihunter Las Arenas fleet just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.




 

FISHING SLOWLY GETS BETTER WITH WARMER TEMPS

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

 

There were good and there were bad things about this past week of fishing.  Let’s start with the bad.

There were some really windy days.  Some cooler water temps.  But those things are to be expected this time of year when things are in transition between the warm and colder seasons.  Still, it didn’t always make for the best fishing conditions nor, did it help with getting bait.  Basically, it’s almost like a chart…the higher the wind, the poorer the fishing.  The lower the wind, the better the fishing.   Overall, I’d give this week a so-so rating in terms of fishing.  It’s been worse.  But, normally, it’s a whole lot better.

But, let’s focus on some of the positives.

Take a look at some of this week’s photos.  Yup…wahoo made a nice surprising reappearance this week.  Around the north and sound end of Cerralvo Island, the speedy skinnies were around and willing to eat slow trolled Rapalas and bait.  Sizes ranged from pinky 15 pounders up to about 40 pounds.

Additionally, we had a really great week on the roosters for our Las Arenas anglers.  I think just about everyone who really wanted to check “rooster fish” off the bucket list got at least one.  I don’t have any photos this week because, with much appreciation, all the roosters were released!  But, there were some nice quality fish taken off the sandy beach areas with fish in the 20-45 pound size and some larger that were lost.

To the good stuff, add in a few marlin coming alive and taking some hits, but all of them coming off plus the dorado were still around although not in big numbers as previous weeks.  I still consider the dorado to be our bread-and-butter fish at the moment.  Both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet had dorado as their predominant go-to fish.  Some decent 20 pounders in the mix, but some larger fish lost to pilot error!

Hope the winds slow down and the bait gets better!  Should all improve as we move closer to summer!

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

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

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

 

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