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Posts Tagged ‘vacations’

Duncans dorado tags

Double bonus! It’s great when our local friends go fishing. It’s even better when it’s their first time and they do well! But check out the quality dorado taken by Simon Loftus from Amistad Real Estate here in La Paz and Darrell Duncan and Leslie Duncan who just opened the beautiful Casa de La Paz Bed and Breakfast near our Tailhunter Restaurant http://www.casadelapazmexico.com On one of the calmest days of the week they were able to get East of Cerralvo Island in flat water and put these mahi in the boat and lost several others. It’s surprising to get this quality of fish so late in the season!

jumping dorado tags 12-12

Spectacular shot of a dorado slamming the bait and getting air taken by Leslie Duncan’s quick shutter finger on the camera!

verda tags dorado jorge 12-12

From the East Bay area of San Francisco, enjoying her recent retirement from the Sheriff’s Department, our amiga, Verda Boyd has already visited us twice this year and plans to do alot more fishing! Oh…and she can fish! Check out the colors on this dandy bull dorado she’s holding with Captain Jorge.

sierra shelly and michele tags 12-12

Two more of our La Paz amigos and fishing for the first time, Shelly and Michele hooked 14 sierra and lost 3 dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet mid-week!

simon loftus dorado tags 12-12

Fresh colors aboard! Simon Loftos has Captain Gerardo looking over his shoulder as he pulls another dorado aboard with a big smile. It was a big week for our local La Paz friends to fish! Simon is a property manager and realtor here in town at Amistad Realty http://www.amistadrealtors.com It was his first time fishing with us as well.

Sailfish tags

Who would have thought we’d be catching marlin and sailfish in December! But, it was a good week for billfish. I’d have more photos, but happily most were released like this good looking sail here next to the panga. One on day alone we had 5 sailfish and 2 marlin and all but one marlin were released.

zimmer tags dorado sierra 12-12

Tim Zimmer, always does well when he comes down in December to enjoy some some sunshine and fishing! He’s got a nice rack of dorado here and check out the size of his fat sierra!

sierra 12-12

From Washington state here in La Paz to celebrate their anniversary, Christine Ainsworth, was fishing with us for the first time. She and her husband, Mike, who’s a professional guide in Washington got quite a variety of fish on conventional and fly-fishing tackle including, sierra, roosterfish, cabrilla, ladyfish, jack crevalle and others!

Terry Robinson from Twin Falls, Idaho, is another first-timer checking out La Paz with us.  He nailed a nice roosterfish and great dorado fishing as well like this one just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

Terry Robinson from Twin Falls, Idaho, is another first-timer checking out La Paz with us. He nailed a nice roosterfish and great dorado fishing as well like this one just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

DECEMBER STARTS WITH FANTASTIC FALL FISHING!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 2-9, 2012

If you were to ask me, I’d say we’re probably on the very very tail-end of any kind of bluewater or warm water fishing.  But what do I know?

Check out this week’s photos!  I wish I had more, but so many fish were getting released and on one of our best days this week…no one brought a camera!

But what crazy fishing!

Just when I’m about to write things off, we have another great week of fishing…in fact…some of the best winter fishing I’ve seen ever!  Dorado…huge roosterfish…sailfish…marlin…pargo….cabrilla…jack crevalle…wahoo…pompano!    Nothing in big numbers, but the very fact that they’re still biting and we’re almost into Christmas is pretty surprising!

But, then, there’s some days when the bite just goes crazy!!!  We had one day this past week where our pangas were back on the beach before noon!  The anglers just simply had too much fish!

Of course, none of our anglers is complaining and I’m always sure to tell them that any kind of bluewater-type fish is a bonus!  They shrug.  They laugh.  Many of our anglers now are just grateful to be in the sunshine as they’re coming from colder places like Canada, Utah, Washington state and other places that are already in the grips of winter and right now, we’re blessed with  breezy 80-85 degree sunny weather.

And then they come back with 3 or 4 or 6 dorado in the 10-20 pound class and maybe a wahoo or a roosterfish and have big giant smiles! We had a few roosterfish this week that went 70-80 pound world-class size!  We had another day when we hooked and released 5 sailfish plus two marlin were hooked as well.

On top of it, they’ll probably pop anywhere from 5-10 sierra as well and maybe a pargo or cabrilla or two plus a additional action on bonito.  Makes for a nice day of rod-bending!

The dorado are very close to shore which is a good thing since winds are definitely kicked up and mostly from the north making it bumpy at times.  That’s also why we’re doing most of our fishing from Las Arenas where it’s closer and more protected.  However, for those a bit more adventurous, the larger dorado (up to 40 pounds) have been holding out at the 88 bank east of Cerralvo Island.  It’s a little more than an hour to the high spot, but in a wind it’s impossible or simple too bone-rattling to want to do it.  Those same areas is where the billfish were also holding.

Sierra and roosterfish are in the shallow areas usually just where the bottom starts to slide off the ledge to slightly deeper water and it turns color.  If there’s some structure in that area, nice pargo mulatto are also being hooked.

Most of our fishing is with live bait or also dead stripped slices of bonito are effective.  Sierra are getting taken on baited hooked with wires or by slow trolling Rapalas, Rebels, Yo-Zuris and Mega Baits.

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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Great photo! Dan Neale of La Verne CA holds up a beautiful late-season bull dorado caught just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos on a live sardine. Dan was on his first trip with Tailhunters in La Paz. The dorado are still biting!

With Captain Pancho all wrapped up (he has an allergy to dust!) he helps out my high school classmate Gary Howarth who poses with another dorado he caught south of La Paz. Don’t know how much longer the dorado will be around, but they’re a welcome catch right now with the seasons changing!

There are days when you can catch these all day or a quick limit within a short time! Sierra schools have moved into the shallow drop-off areas and live bait on a thin wire or else trolling small rapalas or yo-zuris or anything shiny will get a viscious strike! Great eating fish and a favorite for ceviche!

It’s that time of the year and one of the great draws in La Paz right now have been the whale sharks swimming in the bay in shallow water. Snorkeling with these 15-30 foot gentle giants is an incredible afternoon adventure and only several hundred yards from the city waterfront.

WARM WATER SPECIES STILL LINGER FOR ANGLERS WITH COOLER SPECIES MIXING IN

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 18-25, 2012

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend!  We’re grateful to all our Tailhunter friends and tribal members who read our fishing report each week!

Let’s get to it…

We’re still doing some pretty good fishing for so late in the season and the mix of fish is really surprising.  With northern winds getting stronger and air temperatures getting cooler, I’m really happy to see such a great variety of species that we’re catching…most importantly the “glamour” warm water species that so many anglers come to catch!

Almost all of our fishing now is out’ve Las Arenas where even if the winds are closer, we’re more protected for launching our fleet as well as just more comfortable fishing!  When fish are as close as just a few yards from shore, there’s no reason to run way outside and get bounced around and get your kidneys shaken loose outside the wind line!

But that’s what makes it fun right now.  In addition to a decent dorado bite of 10-25 pound mahi both inshore and hear the closer buoys, the southern side of the island is still getting some late season wahoo bite with fish up toe 45 pounds.  Rapalas doing most of the damage, but several were hooked on bait while guys were fishing for other species.  The biggest hinderance is the wind which can really whip it up getting over to that side of the island from Muertos Bay ahd headed north.

But not far from shore from the Arenas lighthouse down to about Pescadero, we’re encountering dorado, roosterfish, nice batches of sierra, pargo, cabrilla, rainbow runners, pompano, bonito and jack crevalle.  All of this can make for a lot of action in a fishing day!

Live bait is not a problem most day with live sardines available for purchase although they do tend to be on the smaller side so smaller live bait hooks are suggested.  Due to the time change, I know it sounds early, but we’re leaving the hotels at 4:45 a.m. to get out at first light.  Hopefully, the bite will continue a few more weeks!

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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As pretty a picture as you can have. This fresh bull dorado shows great colors after being caught by Mark Tefelski from Los Olivos CA near Santa Barbara. A good little run of dorado was a surprising highlight of the catch this week. Mark got this one just outside Bahia de Los Muertos.

It was another good week for late-season roosterfish like this one caught by Randy Bartholomay who visited us from Gaviotas CA. The roosterfish have been schooling near Cerralvo Island and then in the area between the Arenas lighthouse and Boca de Alamo. This guy was released.

There’s still some dorado north of La Paz although it’s getting windier and choppier as north winds increase and the season changes. But, Randy Choate and Captain Rogelio pose with a nice dorado they caught near Espirito Santo Island. Randy is from Idaho.

Our flyfishers have been having a surprisingly good time as long as the winds stay down. Tom Ames and Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet hold up another roosterfish that fell to a sardine pattern and was later released. That’s the beach at Muertos Bay in the background.

Another pretty fish held up by Larry Hildebrand from Chico CA who was on his first trip with us and picked up this and several other nice fish near Las Arenas.

It’s her first! Claire Ames from Idaho got into the nice roosterfish bite with this school-sized fighter she released after catching it in Bahia de Los Muertos.

We spent the week in Cabo San Lucas working for the 14th Annual Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament. It was a huge success with over $564 thousand dollars in prize money and with 121 teams making it the largest tournament in Baja this year. This was the largest fish of the tournament a 372 pound giant!

Last laugh! Don’t giggle at this tiny 30.4 pound wahoo. It is the most expensive wahoo you will ever see! It was worth almost $80 thousand dollars in prize money at the 14th Annual Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tournament when no other wahoo or dorado larger than this were brought to the scales! So…this guy was the winner…all the way to the bank!

LATE SEASON DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH KEEP RODS BENT!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 4-11, 2012

Surprisingly, given the cooler temperatures and breezier conditions, we had a nice run of top water fish including dorado.  Just when I thought the season had ended for dorado, our pangas got some nice numbers and good quality fish between 10 and 30 pounds each day.  Most of our fishing, however, is now with our Las Arenas fleet shoving off from Bahia de Los Muertos because the north winds are making it a bit too rough to fish out’ve La Paz.  No sense in getting beat up when you get can the same fish in calmer waters fishing from the Las Arenas area.

The dorado have been coming from a variety of areas.  As close as Punta Perico just a few minutes from the beach and around the lighthouse where the deeper water starts have been good areas, but to the south near Boca de Alamo and south end of Cerralvo Island have also produced schooling mahi.

In addition to the dorado, we’re getting inshore species like pargo, cabrilla and sierra and surprisingly the roosterfish are still hanging out as well near the lighthouse, in Bahia de Los Muertos and also near the island.  Sierra have been increasing in numbers as the waters cool as well.   We had a few knockdowns and hookups on sailfish this week also with all fish released.

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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Dorado were a little harder to find this week, but there were some moments as conditions cool and the season changes. But, John Kennedy from northern California shows off a nice pair of mahi he caught north of La Paz.

We have had so many great folks from Idaho this year. Many first timers like our new amiga, Barbara Choate who fished with our Captain Jorge and got his photo-perfect bull dorado just south of Bahia de Los Muertos.

Now THIS is how to do it and have some fun! On light tackle and throwing a surface popper, Tim Hildebrand from Chico CA nailed this sweet bull dorado that fought him big time on the smaller rod!

Two of our best amigos, Joe Barrera and Vic Patton, always come to see us at the end of the year. They pose with a striped marlin they pulled off the south end of Cerralvo Island. Given the cooler waters, it wasn’t a bad week for billfish with most getting released. They weren’t able to let this one go.

First timer and using a flyrod, big grins for Randy Choate who got over a dozen roosterfish on the flyroad just inside Bahia de Los Muertos. All the fish were released. Randy is from Idaho.

Tim Hildebrand from Chico CA and Ryan Chipley from Spokane WA tag-teamed for a good day of dorado fishing. They also got the big triggerfish plus a bonito that they bled out and brought to our Tailhunter Restaurant for a big plate of sashime and Hawaiian poke.. The triggerfish ended up as fresh ceviche!

Tom Ames with Captain Adolfo couldn’t stop smiling behind the great mustache. He got rooterfish, jack crevalle and several other species all on the flyrod fishing with us this past week on his first visit from Idaho.

EARLY CHANGE OF SEASONS BRINGS VARIETY OF SPECIES

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 3, 2012

Seasons have definitely changed down here!   Perhaps sooner than we had expected as air temperatures are dropping and water temperatures are also diminishing with more breezy and windy conditions.  It’s a really nice time to be in La Paz!  But, it has surely affected our fishing.  Not a bad thing.  It’s just different.

It seems that in the span of 2 weeks we went from having 90 percent of our catch being dorado which are warm-water species to a nice mix of a number of species.  We’re still getting dorado every day, but I counted as many as 10 different species taken as well on any given day.

For example one day among a half-dozen of our pangas they reported:  dorado, sailfish, marlin, pompano, jack crevalle, wahoo, roosterfish, bonito, pargo, cabrilla and rainbow runners!  It made for some great fun fishing.  Quite a smorgasbord of species and lots of action.  One day, one panga got 4 wahoo.  Another with 2 of our flyfishers got over 20 roosterfish caught and released!  Another had fun throwing surface poppers on light tackle at dorado.  Another with first timers were thrilled to catch and release their first sailfish!

Most of our fishing now is with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.  The waters north of La Paz are getting pretty choppy and the fish are a bit of a run around the corner to Las Cruces area.  If folks want to go, we warn them it could get bumpy. Also, as mentioned above, there’s just not that many dorado around which is the main catch of our La Paz fleet this past season.  So, right now, unless someone says something, most of our fishing is with our Las Arenas fleet.  Fishing is closer.  There’s more species and it’s just a bit more protected from the winds that will surely get stronger as we head towards the end of the year.  For now, fishing is pretty good.

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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Rod Brown is our good amigo from Wrangell, AK. He’s already made two trips to see us this year and was one of the guys who was able to post up a nice wahoo in what has been the best wahoo week in two years! Captain Jorge helps with the photo.

Captain Gerardo lends a hand to Jeanette and “Big Jimmy” Lee Gilman from Utah. First timers to fish with us, they won the trip by guessing how many bobbers were in the ice chest photo below when they came to the ISE Sportsmans show in Salt Lake City, UT last March! Talk about beginner’s luck…they got 5 nice dorado, a wahoo AND….two roosterfish that went 40-50 pounds! And outstanding day for anyone!

Lee Gillman in the photo above attended the Salt Lake City International Sportsmens Show in March and correctly guessed that there were 1934 bobbers in the marine ice chest above and won a 5 day/ 4 nights/ 2 days fishing trip with Tailhunter here in La Paz.

Hank Gonzalez and Captain Lorenzo flank happy angler, Robert “Blue” Nuss with his personal best bull dorado he caught out of Bahia de Los Muertos.

It was a pretty good week for sailfish! Chris Pallemaerts from Washington gets his buddy Josh to give him a hand with this big sailfish he caught fishing our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city. They attempted to release the fish but were unable to revive it after it swallowed the hook. They donated the fish.

Our amigo, Charlie Gibson from Northern California, is here on his 2nd trip to La Paz this year and shows off one of his dorado he caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city.

Talk about a great day! Joe Hussin barely had a line in the water off Punta Perrico when he got his first wahoo! Then, in the next hour, he caught 2 more of the nice ‘hoo’s! Three wahoo in an hour! Best of the year so far.

We had quite a few of our amigos who were on their 2nd trip of the year to La Paz to visit us including Leif Dover who lives in Atlanta GA and “commutes” to Hong Kong, China for work! Leif crossed “sailfish” off his bucket list with his first ever sailfish fishing with Captain Pancho off Las Arenas. The fish was released.

It’s always great when the kids get their first fish! Check out the two dorado that Julian Valdez caught out of Bahia de Los Muertos! Felicidades, amigo!

Bob Solee from the Portland, Oregon area was actually on his 3rd trip of the year with us and always does well. Bob holds up one of his La Paz dorado. Bob make some incredible custom fishing rods! Check them out at http://www.bandbcustomrods.com/

Curt Desjardins from Temecula CA was fishing with us for the first time and pulled this beautiful bull dorado while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

FISHING ATTEMPTS TO REBOUND AFTER LAST WEEK’S STORMS WITH WAHOO DORADO BILLFISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept 30 to Oct. 7, 2012

A week after we were hit with a hurricane, an earthquake and and floods from a tropical storm, things got back a little more to normal this past week.  Temperatures and skies could not have been prettier.  Definitely spectacular postcard-pretty weather.  However, the waters are taking a little longer to get back on track as runoff from the big rains cooled some areas of water or made it greener or murkier. 

 

But, as the week went on it steadily got better although fishing still did not get up to where it usually is this time of year.   The biggest danger was just fishing 1 days.  You COULD be the one or two boats that didn’t do well while the rest of the fleet was hooking fish.  Every day, about 80 percent of the boats did OK to good and a few just couldn’t get on the bite.  So, if you only fished one day, you did stand the chance of getting only a fish or two.

 

On the other hand, fortunately, most of our clients are here fishing 2, 3, 4 or more days and by the end of the trip, even with a slow day or two, they left with an ice chest of fillets and good Kodak moments!

 

There was no shortage of variety that’s for sure.  I think things are changing.  Of course, we had the usual dorado bite where probably 70 percent of this week’s bite were dorado.  Fish ranged in the 10-15 pound class, but there were larger fish up to 40 pounds well.  The problem was that there was no rhyme or reason as to where the fish would bite or why they would bite one day and not the next.  One “hot” captain would just smoke the fish and the next day that same captain could not get a single biter!   Or vise versa.  A captain on a slump would suddenly be the king of the beach the next day.

 

But, in addition to the dorado, we also saw our best week of wahoo.  Get this.  Some of the wahoo were smaller than big sierra!  I have NEVER seen some wahoo so small.  They were like miniature wahoo.  I’ had never seen 5 pound wahoo!  So, don’t get too excited.  But there were also some 20-30 pounders as well.  Again, like before, some of our pangas would hit the wahoo off Punta Perico and then the next day everyone would go to that spot and they would get skunked.  It was hit or miss, but given we’ve not had any wahoo for 2 seasons, we got more wahoo this week than in the past 2 years combined.

 

There were also some other good biters as well. Roosterfish are still prowling the shallows near the beaches and we got and released roosters in the 5-50 pound class all on live bait.  Larger baits produced larger fish!  There were also pargo, sierra, jack crevalle, lots of bonito and a stray tuna or two.

 

Additionally, it was a good week for sailfish and marlin with several being hooked each day and most released.

 That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

 

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 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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One of the better tuna of the week hoisted by Eddie Carvajal from Baldwin Park CA. First bite of the day. There weren’t many tuna, this week, but the was a nice slug yellowfin. Eddie also did great on dorado after 3 days of fishing with us for his first time.

Former firefighter Mac Treasure retired to Nevada to be a farmer, but brings his great group to see us every year to fish for a few days. On their first day of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, Mac stuck the biggest fish of the day with this big hefty bull dorado. Las Arenas had the better fishing this week.

Nice sailfish for Wayne Jarrett from S. Dakota catch-and-release after the photo. Sailfish have been fairly active the last few weeks with most getting released. Capt. Fabio holds the fish.  (Thanks for the shot, Hawk!)

Jon Luker had a banner week of fishing with us. Our long-time amigo, fished 3 days and had big dorado as well as yellowfin tuan. He got this big female north of La Paz.

I’ve known Mike Harkins since he was a little kid coming down to fish with us in La Paz. He was always a talented fisherman and is now a sportboat captain on the “Western Pride” out of Davey’s Locker Sportfishing in Newport Beach. He holds a couple of yellowfin tuna taken off Cerralvo Island on the one day when the fish blew up…then disappeared the next day!

Musician Larry Cornwall has a house down here near La Paz but lives in near Los Angeles. Larry shows off a big time trophy bull dorado he caught just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos!

John Nagy and Rick Hosmer make several trips a year normally to La Paz from S. California. They took this photo with a pair of big dorado taken off the south end of Cerralvo Island near Las Arenas which had the much better fishing this week.

For a first timer fishing, Mayra Carvajal, had a stellar week of fishing with some big-time dorado fishing like this nice bull. She enjoyed bringing it back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have us make them into tacos for dinner! The beach at Muertos Bay is behind her.

His personal best dorado for Tim Larsen from Dana Point, CA with some great colors fresh out of the water. Tim caught this near Espirito Santo Island. Buddy Dave Marino from Little Rock CA looks on.

Best hat-of-the-week award to Scott Luker with Captain Rogelio trying to photo-bomb from behind! Great shot of Scott and this quality bull dorado caught north of La Paz.

Barbette Davidson poses with her nice dorado she caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Barbette was a first-timer with us from Washington and had some great fishing with both of our fleets.

Rob Brooks checks out his catch a hot bull dorado he got just south of Muertos Bay fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. He got limits of dorado that day!

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Pastor Mike Ray from California does battle with a nice trophy roosterfish in Bahia de Los Muertos.  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNUInBioBPs&list=UUSN0xdz-El64xBXmMhl_yvg&index=1&feature=plcp

DORADO SOME TUNA GREAT WEATHER MAKE FOR STEADY FALL FISHING…SOME DAYS!

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 16-23, 2012

Overall, a better week for fishing  and weather since the previous week.  At least on some levels.  Not only did we have literally picture-perfect sunny weather (with no afternoon thunderstorms after 3 weeks of storms!)  but dorado continued to be the solid biters, but the big change seems to be that Las Arenas is finally catching up and is turning out the better fishing.

In fact, not only did Las Arenas have the better fishing, it also had the larger fish as well. Plus there were scattered bites of yellowfin tuna as well. This is exciting given that the usually stellar fishing with our Las Arenas fleet has been scratchy all season.  It’s about time we see it catch fire a bit!

I don’t went to get too excited then have it all fall flat as it has several times this year, but the overall trend for about a week-and-a-half seems to be that the Las Arenas fishing is finally getting some legs.  La Paz fishing was a bit tougher.  In fact, perhaps some of the slowest fishing we’ve seen all season as colder and greener water pushed the La Paz bite down and our anglers had to scratch for fishing north of the city.

As mentioned, dorado were biting on both the La Paz and the Las Arenas side.  Fish were normally about 10-15 pounds for the schoolie-fish, but 20-25 pounders were not uncommon, especially around Las Arenas, Bahia de Los Muertos and Cerralvo Island.  Still, both sides produced some 30 -40 pound class fish and larger fish were also lost.  But there were some boats and some anglers that worked hard and even then…sometimes their efforts and the efforts of the captains just didn’t produce!  Alot of the success this week was just a matter of luck or being right on the right school at the right time with the right bait when they dorado wanted to bite.

And then there was the tuna…

Yes, we did get some tuna as well.  Little splashes here and there of yellowfin tuna between 10 and 40 pound kept popping up around Cerralvo Island, but nothing spectacular.  Still, it’s always encouraging and we remain hopeful that the tuna will show up solidly at any time.  But, it’s only a guess.  I’m a bit worried about the water temperatures which are already starting to drop a bit closer to shore.  The way I know that is we also hooked some sierra this week which we normally don’t see until the waters get chillier in November or December.  It’s only September!

For billfish, not so great.  They just had the big La Paz Gold Cup tournament this past week and not many qualifying fish were taken.  We did get some sailfish hookups this week and some smaller striped marlin, but all either broke off or were released.

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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First-time visitors from Washington and new amigos, Barbette Davidson and Robert Brooks got into a sweet dorado bite out’ve Bahia de Los Muertos early in the week with some good quality fish. The bite at Las Arenas has definitely improved since earlier in the season.

Oh the agony! Ed does his best to hold up one of his dorado  caught on his panga while  our popular driver, Carlos looks on. Nice rack of fish to take home standing there at the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

This was just crazy! Normally, flat and blue and pretty-as-a-postcard, two of our captains struggle to get the panga back on the trailer and out of the water. Note the chop and muddy waters from rains! Southern winds whipped the normallly calm seas into a froth on one of the few days of the season when it was just crazy to try to get fish. The sun was out but the seas were not being kind. This was the remnant of Tropical Storm Kristy that was blowing several hundred miles away.

La Paz has gotten more rain in the past 3 weeks than the last 3 years! Almost every afternoon, for about 10-30 minutes we get localized rain or thundershowers. Sometimes just breezers and sometimes gully-washers! This is the view outstide Tailhunter Restaurant. Ten minutes later the sun was out blazing again!

For those of you who have fished with us over all the years, you know how dry our desert looks and what the drive to Las Arenas looks like! Well, after 3 weeks of rain…TAKE A LOOK! Grass is growing. Flowers are blooming. Butterflies are all overthe place. The WILD  SKINNY COWS ARE GETTING FAT! Everything is green! The mountains are sprouting jungles!  It’s like the earth has turned into a giant Chia Pet!

Our amigo, Al Yu, wasn’t trying to catch a billfish. He had a sardine out on light tackle trying to catch a dorado when this sailfish bit on 30 pound test! Fight on! They were going to release the fish, but it had swallowed the hook. Still a nice catch, Al! We did get quite a few hook ups on sails this week, all were either released or got off!

Jeanine Stenzel and her husband Roy are technically our La Paz neighbors since they completed their house in La Paz and they come to visit us every few weeks always trying to get in a day of fishing! Our amiga poses with one of several she hooked fishing with our Las Arenas fleet from Bahia de Los Muertos.

Had to post up this one of our daughter, Jessie, with another dorado and the big smile. Check out the skies. Pretty much how it looks every afternoon just before the rains come. Fortunately, most of the times everyone is already in and able to enjoy the cool downpour over a cold cerveza. Jess was fishing near Espirito Santo Island when she hooked this one!

Fred Li had a few banner days of fishing with us and really got into the dorado like this one taken north of La Paz!

WORKING A LITTLE HARDER FOR OUR FISH THIS PAST WEEK BUT DORADO AND SOME TUNA KEEP IT BENT!

La Paz-Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 9-16, 2012

It was hard to get too excited this week.  We have so many great weeks of fishing I’d have to say this week was OK.  There was some good fishing.  There was some great fishing.  And then, there were some bad days of fishing.   That about sums it up.

No way to put a finger on it.  We continued to have tropical conditions with variable weather that dropped mega sunshine on us one minute with tons of humidity followed by growing clouds in the afternoon and often heavy localized thundershowers.  (By “localized” I mean it would rain like the 2nd coming of Noah in one spots but ¼ mile away, it would be dry as toast!).  The weather might be a part of it.  We have not had a hurricane but instead have had about 3 weeks of mini-showers.  Very welcome to the area since we’ve not had pretty much any rain for about 3 years.  However, in the last 3 weeks, we’ve had more cumulative rain than in the past 3 years combined.  By most opinions, we’ll take little afternoon thundershowers over a hurricane any day!

But, it also meant variable fishing.  I mean, everyone got fish.  If you fished more than 1 days, you were gonna get fish.  Most of it was going to be dorado.  But one day, you could be absolute aces and the hero on the beach and the next day, with no changes at all, you might end up with barely one fish!   5 pangas would fish an area and 3 would get limited early and be back on the beach.  One would get 3 fish.  The last panga fishing exactly in the same spot would get one little dorado!  The next day it might be all reversed.

The highlight of the week was the tuna that blew up at Las Arenas.  In fact, it was an epic bite off Cerralvo Island that some guys described “the bite of a lifetime!”  “All we could want.”  “Just stupid good fishing!”  About mid-week the football tuna…8-12 pounders…just came boiling and biting about anything that got thrown in the water!  Just wild.  We all thought that it was finally the beginning of “tuna season.”

Well…

Not so fast.  Just like in the past when the tuna sort of peeked out…the tuna disappeared the next day in rough choppy waters spurred by high winds that made it literally crazy to even try to get to the tuna grounds.  (See the photo above of what Muertos Bay looked like!)  And that was that.  As the week went on, a few tuna popped up, but nothing to get too excited about.

So, that’s the bite.  Dorado.  Some tuna.  A few sailfish.  Oh…and a wahoo.  Dorado are still the big biters so I figure we’ll let these waters calm down from the tropical storms and they’ll come foaming back.

I did want to share one story from Barbette Davidson who fished with us this week with Rob Brooks (See the top photo with all the dorado).  She tells us that on the plane ride back to Washington Rob fell asleep.

“Robert fell asleep on the plane and was slouching forward a little bit and all of a sudden he pulled back hard against the seat with his head and lifted his arms.  This woke him up and I asked him what he was doing and he said he thought he had a “fish on”.  LOL he was dreaming of catching fish!”

That’s our story!

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, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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We’re not in Kansas anymore! Ready to click your ruby heels like in the Wizard of Oz? Another afternoon tropical storm headed our way complete with booming thunder and lightning. 30 minutes of rain the afternoons has really given La Paz a tropical feel and fortunately, by the time these roll in and lash us in the late afternoon, all our fisherman are usually in and watching the storm move across the bay from under the protection of our Tailhunter Restaurant with a cold beer in hand and fish stories to talk about! Looks like it’s going to be like this for the next week or so.

After every afternoon storm, usually a spectacular sunset over La Paz Bay. Here, one of our captains wades ashore through the shallows with our client’s fish catch of the day.

Great Happy Birthday for Pastor Mike Ray who strikes a candid pose with a load of doradof on the beach at Muertos Bay. Pastor Mike’s congregation gave Mike and his wife, Verna, a fishing trip to La Paz where they got dorado and roosterfish after a full week of fishing!

Cute pose from our daughter, Jessie Ried of North Las Vegas, with Captain Rogelio with one of 4 dorado she got this day fishing around Espirito Santo Island.

I haven’t posted many roostefish photos lately because the dorado bite has been so strong, but yes the roosters are still biting. We’ve had one of the best roosterfish seasons in memory. Mike Lutz is a pilot of Delta Air and he stopped by for a few days of fishing and got 4 nice roosters this day all released!

Talk about the “hat trick…” Jack Lutz had the choice of a day of snorkeling or one last day of fishing. He opted for the fishing and took 30 minutes to bring this nice sailfish to the boat fishing north of La Paz. Jack hat-tricked his trip with dorado, roosterfish and sailfish…all prized La Paz gamefish.

VIDEO of the WEEK

We have been featured by the La Paz Board of Tourism in their video series of promotional tourism materials.  Filmed by our amigo, Luke Inman,  take a look.  It gives a really nice overall idea of fishing here in La Paz.  Many of our Tailhunter regulars might see themselves in the video clip:

You can also click this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zCTF0LcN8M&feature=plcp

DODGE A HURRICANE BUT AFTERNOON TROPICAL RAINS DON’T SLOW DORADO…TOO MUCH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 26 to Sept. 2, 2012

It was a very “tropical” kind of week.  Almost like clockwork every day we had tropical thundershowers about 3 -4 p.m.  Some of them were real gully-washers. In 30 minutes of rain, the streets could turn into rivers in downtown La Paz or cause some serious flash flooding in the arroyos.  But, it could rain in one spot then 200 yards away be completely dry.  Or it would look like the mother-of-all-storms was approaching and turn into nothing more than some drizzle…or nothing at all.

Still, it’s better than having a full blown hurricane and usually by late afternoon, all our boats are in and the clients are sitting under a palapa able to watch the lightning and hear the thunder with a cold one in their hands!  The predictions for this week call for more of the same with varying predictions of rain all week.  Basically, even when there were some showers while the guys were fishing, as long as the winds didn’t whip up we could still fish and, in fact, many of the guys fishing enjoyed the cooling showers.  Like I said, they never lasted long and as soon as they were over, ofte the sun came back out blazing!

As far as fishing was concerned, it wasn’t off-the-charts or up to normal fishing standards for this time of year.  But, we were still able to fish and there were some decent to very good fishing days.  Dorado were our bread-and-butter fish for both of our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets with larger fish being caught by our La Paz fleet, but more variety and roosterfish bolstering the catch for our Las Arenas anglers.

The dorado were averaging about 15-20 pounds on the high-side, but every day we had fish in the 30 pound class and many larger that got away. Roosters were under 30 pounds, but there were some good schools of them.  As well, we had some decent hook up on sailfish and striped marlin this week as well.

I know everyone want to know where the tuna are, but so far, nothing showing up, but this is prime time for tuna so we have our fingers crossed.  Same for wahoo.  They’re just kinda scarce this season.

That’s our story!

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, Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
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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Our Amigo, Paul Nagata, from San Francisco always comes down this time of year. He toughed out a rough week. Not only did he have to fish in rough weather but the airlines also lost his fishing reels (he got them back!) but he kept a smile and got good dorado fishing all week like this solid bull north of La Paz. Note the grey skies and rougher waters behind him. That’s Tropical Storm Hector that blew through and left us with a bit of rain.

Such a beautiful fish…a big bull dorado still “lit up” straight out’ve the water posed by our Captain Joel who had been fishing with Paul Nagata that day with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.

Thankfully, we did not get flooded like other Baja cities, but we did get some very gentle rain and wind which were a nice break from the heat for a few days. It didn’t make for the best fishing conditions, although we still got some nice dorado. But this was thet wet view of the malecon in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant in the afternoon.

TV actor and TV show host, Rick Kasper fishes with us just about every-other-week during the season and never fails to do well. Check out this trophy bull dorado he caught while the sun was still shining earlier in the week fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

Old-time friends of Tailhunter, Jim Booth and Bill Sharp, wrestle with a fresh big bull dorado they just put in the boat near Cerralvo Island.

Professional chef, Vartan Bagdasaryan, put the wood to this nice roosterfish off Bahia de Los Muertos. He had a good week with roosters and dorado. This fish was released.

Daniel Compton from Arizona with Bill and grandfather, Dan Compton from Kansas wanted to get at least 1 dorado during the week. They ended up with 3 solid days of dorado fishing with both our Tailhunter La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. They are posed her at Bahia de Los Muertos near Las Arenas.

Big smiles for Greg Drezil just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos where the roosterfish continue to provide some great action on trophy fish. Greg released this one after the photo. Greg also got into some nice dorado fishing during the week as well.

I’m not sure what kind of setting he had on his camera when he took this photo, but it’s kinda cool! Burke Roble fished 4 days with us and did some damage to the dorado schools including this healthy slugger bull dorado! Check out Burke’s video clip below.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Burke Roble of Riverside had a nice bit of fishing this past week.  In addition to the nice dorado above, he got several others including the one shown in the video clip below taken near Cerralvo Island near Las Arenas.  I have it in 3 different formats for you since some players play one format, but not the other.  Click the link or any of the TV icons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3YB-Pz5dI&feature=plcp

TROPICAL STORM HECTOR CLOUDS SKIES BUT DORADO STILL BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 12-19, 2012

We have certainly had better weeks of weather down here.  As a tropical storm pushed up the west side of the Baja Peninsula several hundred miles out it dropped some considerable rain on southern Baja.  Cabo and Todos Santos and some of those areas were flooded.  In La Paz, we got some nice gentle drizzles although some areas did get some sporadic short thundershowers that came and went.  We were still spared the brunt of what hit areas to the south of us.

Still, it made for a lot of cloudy, windy and blustery days on the water. We were pretty much not able to fish Las Arenas at all from about Tuesday on.  Too bad because the dorado and tuna bite had just kicked in.  But with the storms, it was just too windy to get off the beach or even get to Cerralvo Island for bait.  As the week went on, the road and arroyos became too slogged to get through also.

So, we had all our anglers fishing with our La Paz fleet.  They didn’t do too badly.  Most days there were limits or near limits of dorado.  Most fish were about 10-20 pounds.  Nice grade fighters ,but we also had some 30’s taken and several stories of “pilot error” on behalf of cursing fishermen who battled larger dorado only to lose the battles to fish that were easily over 40 pounds…and some larger to hear them tell!

As well, we still hooked some marlin and sailfish, but not many roosters once the storm front moved through.  By the time you’re reading this, the sunshine has returned according to the predictions, along with some great sunshine and blue skies.   However, as with any storm’s aftermath,  I’m a bit worried about high winds that follow that are tougher and have a greater effect on fish and fishermen than the rain.  As I’m writing this report, and looking out the window at the water…so far…so good!  Just a little bit of a breeze!  Fingers crossed for a good week of fishing.  You have a good week too!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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


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Tailhunter Captain Victor goofs with Gerry Acosta and Victor Gildelmontes who got into the nice bite of football tuna late in the week of Cerralvo Island. The guys got into the bite but ran out’ve beer and came back to shore. Then, they went back out and caught more fish! All the tuna were fun 8-12 pounders, but the first school-sized fish we’ve seen all season.

Mario Salazar and Luis Arandia started hooking tuna when this nice sailfish bit while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Attempts to release the sail weren’t successful and the meat was donated. The guys also got some nice dorado while fishing several days with us.

Our long time amigo, Victor Ochoa with Captain Jorge. This is one of the great stories. Several years ago, Victor was fishing with us and Capt. Jorge was running the panga. As the day went on, they realized they were COUSINS! Victor’s mother had moved to California but was the cousin to Capt. Jorge’s mother! So, the two guys are related and always fish well together plus have a good time showing off one of their larger dorado of the trip.

Pam Sharp rocked her day with this trophy roosterfish that was released while she was fishing off the Ventana-Cerralvo area with Capt. Fabio. Great fish and super shot. (Thanks Hawk!)

We have sure had some good fishermen from New Mexico this season! Darren Hanson flew his own plane down and spent several days on the water with us. He took this huge bull north of La Paz near Espiritu Santo Island.

Our buddy, James “Hawk” Davis, took this incredible shot of Pam Sharp’s marlin doing the dance as it’s close to the panga. You can see her special “pink lure” on the line as the fish does it’s thing. Great shot and Pam also released the big fish.

Jim Lipkowski wanted one day to get a shot at getitng a roosterfish and successfully got this nice pez gallo of Las Arenas.

Nice buffet…yellowfin tuna…a pargo…even a small mako shark as Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Don Slaiman. 

TUNA SHOW UP AT LAS ARENAS WHILE DORADO CONTINUE FULL MOON FEEDING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 29 to Aug. 5, 2012

Despite the full moon, it wasn’t a bad week of fishing at all!  The past few months, the full moon has actually been our better fishing.  However, while the fishing seemed to slow just a tad, it was still pretty steady enough to fill some ice chests and keep anglers happy.

The dorado bite north of La Paz continued.  Some days were better than others and some of our pangas did better than others but overall, if you fished a few days, you were going to get some nice limits of dorado that averaged about 15 pounds, but no unusual to have others in the 20-45 pound class as well.  As far as I can remember this week, we had a lot of pangas out and I think pretty much everyone had shots at some of the bigger boys.  Some of them caught them and some well…got away!  That’s why they’re BIG!  But there was some great action.  The biggest factor seemed to be the wind.  Some days were a little breezy and those days made finding the dorado a bit harder.  The less wind…the better the dorado bite seemed to be.

The nicest surprise was the tuna boil that took place late in the week off Cerralvo Island.  In spots between the island and the 88 spot to the east there were some nice boils of tuna going off.  Nothing big, but for some pangas all the football sized 8-15 pounders they could handle!   At the time of this writing, I don’t know if this is a fluke or the start of some nice tuna shots, but at least at the end of the week things sure looked promising.  Some of the commercial guys who were out as far as 25-35 miles said there were some spots of larger fish in the 30-50 pound category.

But for our Las Arenas fleet, even if they didn’t fish for tuna, it remains the spot for roosterfish.  Boy, did we have some nice roosterfish going this week.  Several of the fish were in the 40-65 pound class plus a good number in the 20-30 pound class.  It continues to be one of the best roosterfish seasons in a long time.

Also, quite  few marlin and sailfish around still.  We’re not specifically targeting them, but we hooked a number just while fishing for dorado or other species.  Most were released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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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