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.
Hope this keeps up!
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine CA 91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
Tailhunter Fish Report 