TUNA DORADO ROOSTERS & BILLFISH HELP THE COUNT!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of June 30-July 7, 2026
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER: Finally feeling more like summer. It got hot! Still not has hot as normal, but you can feel the change. Much more humidity, but we still have some erratic strong winds that affect the water and fishing.
WATER: Mostly warm and blue these days, but if the winds are blowing, there have been some rough days when you’re gonna get bounced and wet.
FISHING HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, roosterfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, tuna, dog-tooth snapper, pargo, yellow snapper, triggerfish, cabrilla, trevally, bonito, jack crevalle
ON A SCALE of 1-10 (10 is best): Fishing was mostly a 4-6.
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Isaac Cortez is our buddy who hasn’t been here in many years. Great to see him back and check out this huge roosterfish. What you can’t see in the photo is that they’re only about 20 yards from the rocks!
OMG…middle of the group (white hat), Steve Braslavsky, admitted he doesn’t have a whole lot of fishing experience. However, he was with Captan Victor when he hooked and battled this massive blue marlin for 4 grueling hours off Cerralvo Island. Epic job, Steve! Much of the meat was donated.
Big bull for our Reno amigo, Tim Tyger who had himself a banner day with dorado and tuna.
Roger Kenner looks a little disheveled after battling this big yellowfin tuna as well he should…these fish are tough. Son Brent helps out. Their first time visiting us and are from N. Dakota.
Our roostefish king from Washington, Steve Bryant come down every year for almost 3 weeks and all he does is fish for big roosters. Like this one. A little more difficult this year, but Steve came through and pulled several huge roosters aboard and released all of them.
Captain Victor with David Dunmire who fished 2 days and caught this striped marlin (released) as well as several of those big dorado.
Tamar Bartz from N. Dakota is quite the the outdoors woman as an accomplished bow hunter, rifle hunter and angler. She sure had a great week with us. Take a look at this big cubera (dog-tooth) snapper. When she caught it, even Captain Pancho said…”Wow…I never expected THAT!” 😳
From Maryland, it was great to have Holly Butler and her family back. Despite some really tough fishing, she never stopped smiling and hung in there and ended up with quite a variety of fish to take home including tuna, dorado and this trevally that ended up as some tasty ashimi at out Tailhunter Restaurant.
First day was a good day for Andy Vasquez…two bull dorado and this striped marlin.
Brian Kadrmas and Tamar Bartz show off 4 big bull dorado fishing with Captain Pancho. They also released quite a few more!
All the way from Pennsylvania, Bill Ruddock battled this big yellowfin and came back saying, “No more tuna please!”
Boise, Idaho in the house! New friends, Dave and Nolan Kerby had a good day with Captain Hugo. Three big dorado and a big tuna to get into the freezer.
Good way to end a full week with us…Brent Kenner and his dad Roger with more dorado to take home!
Captain Armando and Chad Legg with his big bull. Always great when Chad visits us from Washington. One of the happiest guys down here!
Captain Boli gives Austin Nicodemus a hand with his sailfish off Espirito Santo Island taken in shallow water. Austin was here celebrating his 25th anniversary from Colorado.
You don’t have to go far to get trophy fish! Holly and Captain Jorge pulled this hog doado just off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The “Original” Dan Hernandez holds up and poses with another trophy dorado.
Retired Dr. Tom Hall poses with a fat-bellied roosterfish that Captain Armando claims is easily over 100 pounds. Tom wasn’t so certain, but for sure, it’s a big big fish! Tom released it after the photo.
Read the caption of the photo then look at the marlin in the following photo
Check out these two photos. Tom Lucas is a pretty good fisherman. Look at this huge blue marlin Tom caught and then look at the little bass rod and reel he used to battle this fish. Hero stuff!
Check out the head on Dave Ruddocks dorado! It looks like an alien! Quite the trophy. Captain Pancho approves!
Oh yea! A good day for Tim…two slugger tuna and two big boy dorado! He was pretty happy! His first time with us!
Chrisi Nicodemus with Captain Boli and their 2nd sailfish of the day. It was sure fun having her and her husband down here last week!
At the 11th hour after a tough day of fishing, Nolan Kerby got his roosterfish with Captain Moncho right off the sand near Punta Arenas. Nice catch and a successful release!
Brodie Sicoff is just 17, but he pulled mightily for over an hour to get this big yellowfin into the boat!
Isaac is pretty happy with this fresh one!
Kinda funny! It looks like Sean Allen is trying to lick the dorsal fins of his roosterfish or he had trouble hefting it for the photo with Captain Moncho. Sean released this fish.
Captain Moncho poses with Joe McGarry from Paso Robles CA and his roosterfish. Quick photo and release!
Great colors! Great fish. Frameable. Tamar and her roosterfish!
Bret and Brodie Sicoff with Captain Jorge trying their best to pose with this sailfish so they can get it back in the water! They had a spectacular 3 days of fishing!
Holly and Captain Jorge! Just another bull dorado for our amiga from Maryland!
Bert Butler poses with one of his roosterfish just off the rocks at Punta Perrico. They had some tough days, but hung in there and came through their last 2 days.
Brian Kadrmas was just here last May and came back again for more fish and had a good run this week of tuna, dorado, roosterfish and marlin! Brian lives in N. Dakota.
Andy with the 2nd of two big roosters on the day!
I think this beautiful rooster is longer than Tamar is tall. What a great fish!
Steve, the Rooster King, still holds the crown.
Maybe one of my favorite photos of the week. Holly Butler and Captain Jorge. Holly’s first tuna gave her a run for her money, but she got it to the boat! Great colors!
Austin went back to Colorado with a good batch of meat. Another dorado in the box!
Captain Pancho and Tamar again! Our amiga landed some great fish this week. The marlin and many dorado were released.
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Just like last week’s report some notes before you read on and start sending me e-mails:
- You’re gonna see alot of billfish photos. More than ever! I’m seeing more billfish in the last 2 months than in the last 10 years combined. These are just a fraction of the billfish we hooked this week. 90% of the fish either break off or the guests release them. When they decide to take them or can’t be released more-often-than-not the guests donate most or all of the fish to needy locals.
- We are still releasing all of the roosterish.
- We are hooking alot of sharks! But, there’s no photos of them in the gallery. We do not bring them into the boat. Strange to see so many sharks!
Here we go…
Well, for the first time, it seems like we had more of a normal summer week. The pesky winds that have been plaguing us all season, diminished somewhat . They’re not completely gone, but as far as the weather since the last report, they didn’t tear us up as much.
There were still some gusty times that did make it a bit bouncy on the waters and every afternoon the Corumuel winds kick in from the south as the heat rises, but by then everyone is pretty much off the water and the wind is a cooling breeze which is very welcome given the heat that has finally hit.
It’s still not “summer” heat with temps mostly in the high 90’s instead of the hundreds, but you can fell the intensity of the sun and the humidity has also risen. I’m constantly warning and advising our guests to stay hydrated, even if they don’t feel thirsty. And especially if they’ve been out fighting fish.
…and there have been some massive battles!
Even with the residuals of a full moon…
The best fishing continues to be with our Las Arenas fleet. That’s the majority of the photos you see in this week’s gallery. With our La Paz fleet, it’s still somewhat scratchy. There are some schoolie dorado and tuna finally showing up as well as some billfish, but also alot of the fishing has been over the reefs for triggerfish, cabrilla, pargo and snapper.
Las Arenas and Cerralvo Island still tends to be the land of the beasts.
Unlike other years when the fishing has been relatively close, the best honey hole has been a long run to the south or east side outside of Cerralvo Island.
The area continues to yield big dorado, striped marlin, blue marlin and hefty tuna.
Here’s the thing. Compared to other years when everyone is usually hooking 3, 4, 5 or more fish, it’s not like that this year. We’re only getting 1-3 fish PER BOAT. Not per person. For one, there’s just not that many fish. For another reason, the fish are just plain bigger!
If you get hooked on a big tuna or marlin or dorado this year, you could easily be in a battle for 1, 2, 3 or more HOURS!!! About 50% of the fish are being lost due to being tough fish; angler inexperience; or just plain bad luck. Or, alternatively, by the time you get the fish to the boat, you’ve already lost the school or moved off the spot. Or you’re just too darned tired!
There are days when 1 or 2 boats do not catch fish. They are in the right spot and around other boats catching fish, but can’t get bit. That’s just the way it is. There are days when some anglers do not catch fish. If your buddy hooks and fights a fish for 2 hours, there’s not much you do except cheer and drink beer and be patient.
Not everyone is hooking fish. Not every boat is hooking fish. The next day, things could easily turn around and the boat that was hot one day goes cold the next. And vice versa.
But, if you get hooked, chances are you’re into a trophy or the biggest fish of your life.
Marlin are running up to 300 pounds. Tuna are averaging 40-80 pounds and some larger ones tht are lost, we have no idea because we never see the fish. We have had some 200+ pound tuna this year. Dorado continue to show up with 30-50 pound bulls although we’re seeing more school-sized fish in the counts. Roosterfish have been 40-60 pounds, but we’ve taken and released some fish that go triple-digits. We release all of them so we’ll never be completely sure, but they are big fish nonetheless.
The thing is…if you have a bait in the water, you just don’t know what will bite these days. We have caught tuna, wahoo, and billfish in shallow water near shore. Dog tooth snapper where the roosterfish are. Dorado over the reefs. Pargo in deep blue waters. It keeps it interesting and fun.
We’ll keep you posted!
That’s our story!
Jonathan & Jilly
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942
Tailhunter Fish Report 