SOMEONE THREW A SWITCH?
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 26-June 2, 2022
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IN A NUTSHELL
Scale of 1-10 with 10 being best: 6. OK to Good. Not great. Some days better than others. Some boats better than others
Our Las Arenas Fishing Fleet: Lots of variety. Several species of pargo, cabrilla, rainbow runners, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, dorado, tuna, marlin, snapper, pompano, trevally, rainbow runners, wahoo.
Our La Paz Fishing Fleet: Yellowtail and dorado. (more and bigger than Las Arenas) Some bonito and rockfish.
Temps: Air 57 to 103. Water 70-75 degrees.
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THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Each May, Steve Bryan our Seattle amigo becomes our roosterfish poster-child. He catches and releases so many big roosterfish over the course of a week, we lose count. I think this one might have been number 6 or 7. Punta Perico in the background.
Captain Gerardo gives the big thumb’s-up to first-time visitor Lucas Pepin from San Diego who put this pretty dorado on board.
That’s alot of meat to heft! Fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, Jeff Correia and John Stone pulled a dorado and 3 big thick yellowtail off the rock fishing with live bait north of La Paz. The guys come see us each year for many years.
Love this photo of Dave Kosnosky, another of our good Washington tribe members. Sticking out his tongue while another yellowtail dangles on the gaff.
Two of the funnest of our Utah friends, Doug and Penny Nuffer have themselves a cleaning table full of pargo, snapper and rainbow runners.
Adam Toeniskoetter from Saratoga CA has been visiting us for years and topped of his trip with a double hit of wahoo while fishing with Captain Victor.
Just a great shot of Captain Pancho with Mark Stewart and his roosterfish just before the release. Mark was on his first trip to visit us from San Diego.
It was a good week for amberjack! Gary Wagner from his Rancho Costa Resort in Muertos Bay holds a nice one. Amberjack are related to yellowtail, pompano and roosterfish.
Big smiles from Diane Kosnosky after boating another yellowtail. That’s Espirito Santo Island in the background. Amiga Diane is from Washington.
Here you go! Start off the day with Mr. Hoo! Lucas Pepin with his first wahoo he nailed first thing on the morning.
Dan Maynard from Phoenix is staying out at Rancho Costa and caught one of the spawning pargo (mullet snapper) that are now schooling up on the shallows.
On the 3rd day, Al Cazier finally got his roosterfish after his wife and daughter had already caught theirs! Al is from San Antonio and it’s always good to have him visit. The rooster was released.
A pretty yellowtail gets a good look from Mike Lubliner from San Diego before it hits the box.
Dan Northrop from Oregon got his big roosterfish not far off the Punta Arena lighthouse. He was able to release the fish.
Matt Coreia’s dad, Jason comes down all the time to fish with us, but this was his first trip and he poses with his dorado and a double handful of yellowtail.
Captain Armando lends and hand on a couple of big palometas (golden trevally) caught by Tony and Matt Montini from the San Jose area of California. First trip for them!
Some good eating right there! A tuna, some cab rilla, snapper, pargo, amberjack are getting ready for the fillet knife! Dan and Casey Northrop were with us for the first time from Oregon.
Steve has been trying since 2007 in La Paz to get a wahoo and finally racked one this week! He’s giving it the “finger.”
First-day roosterfish for Matt Stewart who caught this not far from the Las Arenas lighthouse and quickly released it.
Bob and Troy Kuzminsky from Washinton got themselves a nice pair of yellowtail ready to pack up and bring home.
Steve is behind the mask with another of his roosterfish . It’s another big one!
A tiger dorado in the boat for Lucas Pepin. Check out the flat ocean. That’s Espirito Santo Island back there.
Smiles over a big load of variety for Ken and Jen Nelson who show off some tuna, pompano, triggerfish, snapper, cabrilla, dorado and even an topsail trevally.
Captain Armando with Matt and Tony Montini posing with mullet snapper, barred pargo, snapper, cabrilla, tuna, triggerfish and jack crevalle.
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The week was light night-and-day.
For the past two months, it’s been unseasonably cold, windy and rough. The fishing reflected it as well. Many cooler water species were being caught like yellowtail, amberjack (some big ones!), pargo, cabrilla, snapper, sierra, and about a half-dozen other species more indicative of winter and early spring fishing.
Lucas Pepin had a fun first day!
It wasn’t bad fishing. There was lots of action. It just was very unusual to still be catching these species when the calendar says it’s almost summer. Likewise with erratic winds and waves, it wasn’t always the most pleasant time to be on the water and at times, we really had to work hard to get our bites.
Then, about mid-week, it was like someone threw a switch.
It didn’t get just warmer. It got hot! Temps board into the high-90’s and low 100’s. Water temps jumped 5 degrees and cleared up.
And the complexion of the fishing suddenly changed as well.
Dave’s got a bull!
We were still catching the yellowtail, amberjack, rainbow runners, sierra, pargo, pompano and all the other cooler water species. But suddenly, the warmer water species decided to come to get into the game as well.
We got some smatterings of yellowfin tuna. We got some wahoo to finally bite. The marlin woke up and we got our first billfish of the season. And for both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet, the numbers of boated dorado finally jumped up as well with flat calm seas all around.
And the roosterfish got bigger too! Some of our regular anglers are telling me they’ve never seen so many roosterfish. Multiple catches per boat are resulting in fish running 30-80 pounds on a regular basis!
Is our fantastic yellowtail season over?
I hate to see such a great yellowtail season possibly being done, but hopefully, we’re back on track like a normal year with these better conditions. Not sure if the rough and windy part of the year are completely done and I’ve learned never to say “never” when it comes to the weather, but hopefully, this is the start of the summer season!
TRIP INSURANCE
Don’t get caught! For years, we have always recommended getting trip insurance before coming down. Even before Covid hit, economic trip insurance can help you recoup expenses for the unexpected and unforseen things like bad weather cancellations; accidents; injury; getting sick on the trip; delays and flight delays or cancellations all of which are TYPICALLY NON-REFUNDABLE as stated in all of our documentation. (Not to mention all the covid-related things, aftermath and fallout. )
Just this past week, more than 7,000 flights got cancelled by the airlines. Lack of pilots and airline personnel; rising fuel costs and other adjustments have things in a jumble. A number of our clients have had to change vacation plans this summer to adjust as well. Don’t get caught.
There’s alot of good companies offering economic plans. Lonely Planet or The Travel Insurance Center and Global Rescue or Sky Med are a few that come to mind.
Here’s a link to help you get started: https://www.insuremytrip.com/
ONLINE MEXICAN FISHING LICENSE WEBSITE NOW WORKING (AGAIN)
After several months, the Mexican Fishing License Website is now functioning. Yay! Sorry for all the frustration. It’s been a PITA to us as well. Here’s the site: https://www.sportfishingbcs.gob.mx/
Lots of our anglers are now telling us they’re able to get their permits!
If you are still having issues, two possible fixes:
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Tailhunter Sportfishing
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Tailhunter Fish Report 