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Yes! Even we get to fish now and then and it was great to get on the water with Jilly for an epic day of non-stop dorado fishing where we hooked and released over 40 fish before noon! Great week of dorado fishing even with the full moon! Here, Jill ducks behind Captain Joel with another bull dorado that was thrashing around wildly before Joel released the fish!

The ladies were on fire this week! Especially alot of first timers like Sylva Ourghoulian from Pasadena CA who came with our long-time amigo and her new husband Avo. Avo is a great fisherman and wanted to have a good experience for Sylva. She got limits of dorado each day plus some nice roosterfish!

Like I said, the ladies were rocking this week! From Sacramento, another first-timer, Becky Csotoras, was just off the Las Arenas lighthouse when she caught and released this nice roosterfish. She and her dad also got into the dorado bite this week as well.

Every time he comes down, Fred Sontag, from St. Louis MO says, “This is the best trip ever!” Four days of hot dorado, roosterfish and marlin fishing resulted in lots of fillets headed back to the midwest including this trophy big-headed bull dorado taken near Espirito Santo Island.

Our long time friend from Colorado, Doug Oclassen got his son, Andrew out with us for a day and off Las Arenas pulled in some nice roosterfish like this one. It’s turning into thee best roosterfish season in memory. Pretty much 99 percent of all the roosters like this one are getting released. Great job, guys! Andy is looking alot like dad these days!

Not many of these in Montana! Phil Matteson said he got “everything on his bucket list” on this trip to La Paz, his first! Dorado, roosterfish and this marlin shown with Captain Boli holding on!

Rex Smith has been visiting us for years. Our amigo did three days fishing with our La Paz fleet and had limits of dorado like this one every day. Rex is from the Phoenix AZ area and is posing here at Balandra Beach north of La Paz.

Big smiles for another of our ladies who had a good trip. From Utah, Kim Woodard, shows off another nice bull dorado that jumped on the line. Kim and her family had good results on dorado and roostefish over several days of fishing with us!

Fishing with grandpa, John Ehlers, from Colorado, 14-year-old Cheyenne says she cannot get enough of the ocean and was on her first trip ever to La Paz! Posing here with our popular Captain Pancho with our Las Arenas fleet, she’s holding one of several big roosterfish she caught and released. She also did several days of banner dorado fishing with grandpa, John!

One of the larger striped marlin of the week, Mike Sontag, has visited us a number of times and finally got his billfish. From North Carolina, Mike’s fish was estimated at about 150 pounds. The billfish have really gotten up to speed this past week even with the full moon and about 90 percent have been released. Mike’s panga hooked two others that got away.

More big smiles to go with a big dorado! The ladies were pulling hard on the fish all week and Karen Matteson from Montana was no exception. Nice dorado…big roosterfish…pargo…a real good trip and nice to have fun folks from Montana. I think Montana people just bring good fishing with them! Nicely done, Karen!

Dustyn Woodard is 17-years-old, and had a great trip sticking a bunch of big roosters with Captain Gerardo and releasing them all. He and his family, from Utah, also popped some great dorado. This was Dustyn’s first trip to see us.

Northern Cal resident, Jimmy Csutoras, saw an article in the S.F. Chronicle about Tailhunter and booked a trip with us. He got dorado and roosters and also got one of the only pargo we’ve seen in awhile! He got several of these nice barred pargo. That’s Punta Arenas in the background and they were very close to the beach!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Check out this underwater clip in slo-motion of a wild dorado hooked (then released)!  Turn up the sound.  If you can’t see the embedded video clip, click the youtube link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xl-JF0VOcM&feature=plcp

FULL MOON PRODUCES BEST DORADO BITE OF THE SEASON!

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-8, 2012

What’s the big deal about the full moon?  I keep telling people it really doesn’t seem to make much difference down here. As a matter of fact, we just had the best dorado week of the season in the full moon.  At times, folks were catching and releasing fish as fast as they could go!   Somedays the bite was later in the day but other our anglers were full of fish by breakfast time!  Once it started it could be pandemonium with double and triple hook ups.  Some of our clients told us they released dozens of dorado each day.

Most of the dorado fishing was north of La Paz and was found in a nice wedge from the Las Cruces/ Gordo area then up to the east side of Espirito Santo Island and up to the Charo Bank.  There’s a nice current line of sargasso weeds holding fish all up and down that area.  There’s lots of voracious 10-15 pounders all along that area that are almost fighting each other to get to the hooks but there’s also some nicer 20-50 pound bruisers mixed in as well.  In the last 2 weeks, it’s like someone threw a switch!

On Friday, Jill and I snuck out for a “quick day of fishing.”  What we ran into was one of our all-time best days on the water in 16 years of living here.  We ran into that line of sargasso weed along the east side of Espirito Santo Island.  Just on a lark we did not follow the rest of the fleet that morning which had gone south to check out the Las Cruces area where the dorado had been biting fairly steadily.

Our first bait immediately got slammed…as did our 2nd and 3rd…by 8 a.m. we had caught and released almost 20 dorado!  By 10 a.m. we had over 30 fish hooked and released.  And we were still the only ones fishing the area!  By 10:30 we were joined by the rest of the fleet and everyone hooked up!  There were dorado everywhere.  Under the boat, it looked like a fish pond!  There were dorado darting in and out of the weed line and current break.  Dorado were jumping following flying fish and one flying fish smacked Jill on the arm followed by a dorado that was chasing the bait that blew up in her face and narrowly missed her.

By 11 that morning we stopped counting at 40 dorado caught and released!  By this time we had switched to complete circle hooks and were also using all kinds of goofy lures that were in the tackle box!  Our last 3 fish were caught by us just dangling BARE HOOKS in the water and watching dorado come out from under the boat and 1…2…3…SLAM!  HOOK UP! BARE HOOKS!

As we pulled off the spot at 11:30 so we could back to the office, dorado were still jumping all around the boat as if yelling, “FEED ME! “  Way fun day.  Of course not every boat did that well, but more often than not all the pangas this week fishing La Paz came back with limits.  And if not, a quick query would tell you that they lost quite a few fish!

In that same area, especially with all the smaller punk dorado around, marlin and sailfish have also moved in to the area and are actively feeding.  We had quite a few hooked, lost and released this week with most in the 100-120 pound class.

Around Las Arenas, our fleet there continues to do well on the roosterfish.  If you’ve ever wanted to check a roosterfish off your “bucket list, ” this has been the year for it. Roosters in the 20-50 pound class have not been uncommon and they’re very close to the beaches where you can visually cast to them and watch the pick up!  Pretty exciting stuff to watch those huge dorsal fins cut through the water!  Las Arenas also produced some marlin and sailfish for us this week as well as pargo.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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One little flurry of fast-moving tuna looked promising but turned out to be a fluke and didn’t develop into much, but the fish were quality slugs like this one that Carlos has! But that was it…gone like ghosts!

Roosterfish were surely the highlight of the week either because that’s what everyone focused on or because that’s all that was biting. But for many folks, getting a rooster is a unique thrill and a much sought-after trophy fish like this beautiful fish held by Joe Jacobs caught near Espiritu Santo Island and released.

Some of the roosters we’re getting have been quality fish. The photo great, but we don’t have many photos mainly because most of the fish are released. They don’t taste very good either so lucky for them! Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet at Las Arenas hefts a nice one before letting the big fish swim off.

This is the satellite view from the http://www.terrafin.com. It shows the water temperature surface gradients around La Paz which could explain alot of things. Every week the water seems to change from warm to cold and back to warm then cold again. The fish might just be shocked. However check out the reading from June. 2. The green and blue colors are cold waters in the 70 degree range. The orange and redder colors are the warmer waters. A week ago, almost all the waters around La Paz were in the 80 degree range! Now, if you’re on a boat, the waters are cold and green.

ROOSTERFISH  MARLIN HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE SLOW SLOW WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 27 to June 3, 2012

A tough scratchy week of fishing here.  None of us can get a “read” on this.  It’s maybe the most inconsistent season I have ever seen.  Water temps rise and fall by 10 degrees warm…cold…warm…cold.  Winds are dead then howl…then die again.  As I write this the palm trees are bending over from strong northwesterlies and it looks like the port captain will shut down the port.  This after a week of relatively calm waters.  The bait situation is fluid.  Our La Paz boats have bait, but the water temperatures are so varied that the fish are lockjawed.  Marlin and dorado ignore the baits and lures and we have to scratch out any kind of a bite.  On the Las Arenas side, our fleets have no sardines or they are very tiny. So, the guys have resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, or jigging up pilot fish or cocineros or liso (mullet).  It’s hard to chum if you don’t have sardines.  I’m recommending guys bring fresh frozen squid or mackerel right now.  Not the kind you buy at the bait store.  Fresh frozen is the kind you buy in the market that’s for human consumption.  It could make a big difference.

On the bright side of things…

The marlin finally seem to have woken up.  For weeks the marlin have been lethargicly sunning themselves on the surface.  No interested in anything.  Well, each day now, the marlin seem more active. We seem to get a hookup or two each day and sometimes more.  Credit to the anglers and captains for releasing all fish.  Most of the fish have been about 120 pound stripers although we had one that one of my captains estimated close to 200 pounds that busted the line during the fight.

Also, if you want a roosterfish…we got those running around.  Most days each of our Las Arenas boats is getting 1-4 of them up to about 40 pounds.  All on bait.  Really tough on the flyfishermen with no chum to speak of right now.  But using mullet and cocineros, the conventional fishermen are getting the roosters.  We’re also getting a few dorado now and then up to about 25 pounds, the occasional snapper or pargo as well as cabrilla.  But nothing to get too excited about.  Hope it turns around.

NEW TAILHUNTER WEBSITE IS LIVE

After 7 months, we’ve finally got the new website up and live.  Check it out  www.tailhunter-international.com

With increasing frequency, folks have been having problems with viewing the website as more folks use browswers other than Microsoft Explorer.  Many folks are increasing using Google and Yahoo browsers and we wanted to keep ahead of the curve to reduce future problems and bring you up-t0-date information.  Hope you find the new site enjoyable and informative.  Thanks to our master IT guru Bil Pulford for the great job and patience.

Have a great week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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The yellowfin tuna came up barking this week! Nice 30-80 pound fish for our Las Arenas fleet and showing here with some of our buen amigos: Mary Heilman; Ed Vander Veer; Mike Whitlow and Bobby Whitlow. Great week of tuna fishing!

The picture is a little deceiving, but our amigo, Jorge "Campion" Romero is actually about 6' tall, but has to lean way back in order to lift this tuna estimated between 70-80 pounds that he rocked off Las Arenas on 50 pound test! He only got one but it was a horse!

In addition to the tuna, it wasn't like the dorado disappeared from the center stage! For the entire summer, the dorado have been voracious! Our popular Captain Chito has a big smile with a big dorado for Ed Vander Veer from Portland OR who nailed this big bull north of La Paz.

Captain Victor from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet flanked by Bernie Pirih and Jim Cirar from Reno NV area and a whole mess o' yellowfin tuna they hooked line live caballitos. The largest of these was scaled at 45 pounds.

It was another active week for marlin and sailfish with most fish released or busting off. However, this one could not be released. Left to right: Esteban romero, Randy Bryan from Chino Hills CA , Capitan Joel , John Nagy from Marina del Rey CA.

Like a kid with a pool toy, Mary Heilman from Oregon cradles her big bull dorado she caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet off Espirito Santo Island.

Mike Whitlow spent his birthday with us from Washington and spent 5 full days slamming dorado, tuna, cabrilla, pargo and other species. But what he really wanted was a big roosterfish. He finally got the big fish on the last day...at the last hour of fishing! "It made my trip," he said. The big fish was released. Captain Adolfo looks on.

Personal bests on the "bucket list" for S. Californian, Don Busse, who got his largest dorado...a 25 and 30 pounder fishing with us this past week.

Natalie Espejo probably loves to fish even more than Bob Gurbuz from Los Angeles...in fact, she's crazy to fish and, as shown in the photo, often catches the largest fish when they fish. Actually, she gets impatient with him if he takes too long to pull in his fish! Bob is actually an experienced angler but says, "She's the boss!" Fun amigos! They got into the tuna bite this week at Las Arenas with their largest fish in the 40 pound class.

It's an outstanding time to fish inshore or along the islands, largely because everyone is outside chasing the bluewater fish! However, species like cabrilla, pargo, snapper and school-sized roosters like Bobby Whitlow's fish here that he caught and released can make for an entire day with plenty of action, That's Captain Adolfo grinning in the stern of the panga.

There comes a point where your arms ache and your back screams and you have to say, "No mas! Let's go home!" That's what happened with Tom Moltzen and Al Skiff who plugged the panga with yellowfin tuna (and Captain Pancho) and were back on the beach by 10:30 a.m. off Las Arenas.

Alex Trasvina brought his dad, Victor, down for a last-minute fishing trip and got into some of the yellowfin tuna one day fishing with our Las Arenas fleet then fished their 2nd day and slammed the dorado with our La Paz fleet.

First-timers to La Paz to fish with us, brothers Steve and Glenn Libbrecht from Nevada put numerous tuna in the pangas as well as dorado. This shot is from their 2nd day fishing with Captain Jorge. All the fish were 40 pound class sluggers.

VIDEO CLIPS of the WEEK

Click here for our video and still images from the week on Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nodouT1xwE

Bonus Video Clip of the Week is Martine, the Italian opera singer who stopped by to visit us on the beach!  Turn up your volume and click the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63dtVb3ZarU

TUNA BUST UP LAS ARENAS ANGLERS WITH DORADO CONTINUING ON THE CHEW!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 4-11, 2011

Overall, despite some occasional dips, it was an incredible week of fishing for both our Tailhunter Fleets here.  Not only did the dorado keep biting fast and furious for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, but tuna popped up mid-week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.  It was pretty good pickings.

 

The tuna were a great surprise.  On and off over the summer the tuna would tease here and there with a handful popping up every few days with nothing solid.  Well, about Wednesday about 5 miles offshore between the Punta Arenas lighthouse and the south end of Cerralvo Island the fish came charging.  Accompanied at times by the porpoise schools…and sometimes not…the yellowfin were “jumping out’ve the water all around the boats!” said one of our anglers.  “I’ve never seen 50-100 pound fish like that and after catching several 40-pounders, I’m glad we didn’t hook any larger!  One guy fought one for almost 3 hours and lost it!”  

 

The biggest problem for our Las Arenas fleet was the lack of sardines for bait so the guys had to catch caballito and also do a bit of trolling as well (cedar plugs again seem to be the hot ticket!).  But the big caballito hit the water like candy to a kindergarten class and for several days the boats put 2-10 fish aboard each day plus losing others…many much larger.  The size range of these went from 10 pound schoolie tuna up to 100-pound pigs with most of the fish in the 30-40 pound class…perfect for most anglers.  “That was plenty big for me!” said one of our anglers.  “I could not handle anything larger.  Before this a big trout had been my biggest fish!”

 

For the rest of the catch out of Las Arenas, we also hooked some marlin, sailfish, roosters and a nice smattering of pargo, cabrilla and snapper for those anglers that wanted to work inshore and along the island for fun light tackle fishing.

 

For our Tailhunter La Paz fleet…the boom on dorado continued.  It’s been bread-and-butter all summer.  If you want to put fillets in the cooler then chasing dorado north of town with our La Paz fleet has been the way to do it.  Dorado have been incredible most days with fish from 10-50 pounds.  Sometimes it’s one fish here.  One fish there.  But, often, the guys were telling me it could go from sheer boredom to pandemonium as big schools of mahi suddenly crashed and every single rod would be bent and it was frantic fishing at it’s best. Several days this week the fishermen were back on the beach cleaning their catches by 11 or 12 noon or earlier!

 

Still no wahoo in the picture or giant squid…we keep getting asked about both!  But the dorado and tuna sure kept everyone busy this week.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
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.”

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The better grade of tuna popped up off Las Arenas and Cerralvo Island. There weren't many of them, but the ones that did show up were in the 40-100 pound class with some larger ones mixed in. Chance Vega from Long Beach hoists up a 40 pounder that just came over the rail.

Dorado continued to be the main attraction for both our Tailhunter fleets with some really nice grade fish being about 90 percent of the weekly catch like this big bull that Captain Rogelio is helping Ron with fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

There's no question that there's alot of billfish in the water right now and the guys fishing for dorado and tuna are getting quite a few surprise hook ups. I wante to thank our amigo, Tom Beautnagel, who took some great billfish photos this past week, including this fantastic shot of our Captain Gerardo gunning the boat and trying to chase down a jumping sailfish hooked by one of his anglers. This is what we call a "Nantucket Sleigh Ride!" All you can do is hold on!

This guy never has a bad day. He is always smiling! Our good friend, Rick Kasper, actor and outdoor TV show host got into that nice jag of tuna this pas week off Las Arenas.

You gotta give this smiling gal props! Debra Guyton from Buena Park CA was fishing for the first time this week and got badly seasick, but refused to stop fishing even when she could easily have gone back to shore. She'd get sick...catch a fish...get sick...catch a fish...and kept smiling too! She got some big tuna as well as some great dorado like this one!

They came to get a tuna or two and Kevin Meyerhoff and Brian Hoff did get these two that ended up on their dinner plates at our Tailhunter Restaurant as ceviche, sashime and Hawaiian poke.

It's a bit hard to tell all the players behind the dorsal fin, but for sure, it's our popular Captain Pancho with Ron and maybe Tyler and the smiles. This particular day, they got the sailfish AND a marlin fishing off Las Arenas and major kudos for quickly releasing both fish to swim away! Quite a few billfish in the water many around the schools of small dorado and bonito. (Thanks for the photo, Tom!)

Showing off a nice rack of Las Arenas dorado, Capt. John Seidensticker from Huntington Beach CA shows of some good sized dorado typical of the size we're getting right now.

HOT WEATHER AND HOT DORADO FISHING PACE THE WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 28-Sept. 4, 2011

Again, it was a pretty hot week for dorado fishing around town, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet where filling the coolers in a single day was sometimes the rule rather than the exception for quite a few fishermen if they wanted doado meat!  Fishing north of town, there was both quantity and quality with some 30-40 pound fish taken each day. 

 

 It wasn’t quite so frisky for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, but dorado fishing was still fairly steady but the bonus being that we found several spots of tuna that ranged from 20-100 pounds that were close to shore or to the island plus quite a few hookups on sailfish and marlin.  So, all-in-all, lots of variety.

 

Perhaps the biggest concern all week wasn’t the hot fishing.  The fish took care of themselves!  If you had lines in the water and a few days fishing like most of our clients, you were gonna put some fillets in your ice chest without really trying too hard.  However, the hottest things was the weather! 

 

We had our normally warm temps in the high 90’s and low hundreds that are tolerable to most folks.  No biggie.  However, I can’t remember when it was so humid.  For instance, one day it was 98 degrees at 3 p.m. but with the humidity, the heat index had us at 118!  Another day it was only 101 degrees, but with the humidity and the heat index it was a whopping 129 degrees at SIX P.M.!!!!!  Amazingly, as soon as the sun dipped down the afternoon Corumuel winds come up every day and immediately, the temperatures drop within 30 minutes by 20 degrees and then continue getting cooler with the breeze refreshing everything through the night.  Our biggest concern wasn’t reminding our fisher-folk to hold onto their rods…it was reminding them that they MUST drink waters!  Beer doesn’t count.  The ice in the margarita doesn’t count!  With temperatures so high, people don’t realize that the liquid in their bodies is getting sucked right out with every breath and dangerous heat stroke is a very real possibility!  In the past, we’ve had folks literally tip over and pass out and had to call the ambulance or get sick when they came back to their rooms thinking they had the flu or food poisoning with cramps and chills when, in fact, they were just heat stroking.  Fortunately, it’s not happened yet this season, but as long as you wear a hat.  Stay in the shade as much as possible and stay hydrated, folks are fine.

 

But back to the fishing…

 

Yes…dorado…dorado…dorado…Hahahahaha…(yawn).  Seriously, we’re thankful the dorado have been ripping all summer.  Great fun. Great fighters.  Great eating!  Probably 90 percent of the catch this past week has been dorado. 

 

But, the continued bites by sailfish and marlin to unsuspecting anglers who are have a little sardine out there swimming around on light tackle trying to hook a dorado or tuna then suddenly finding a 7-10 foot fish on the end is usually pretty thrilling.  Most times the fish break off after a fight or, if taken, almost all the billfish are getting released. 

 

Even moreso was the exciting appearance of the larger grade of tuna off Las Arenas.  Some of the fish were as close as Punta Perrico which is about 5 minutes down the beach from where we launch our pangas near the lighthouse.  30-40 pound models were the norm, but larger 50, 60 and a few fish over 100 pounds were hooked and most lost.   But this is definitely something to keep an eye on.  The tuna were hardly wide open, but boats that went to the tuna zone got 1-4 fish each most days.

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
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.”

 

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