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Posts Tagged ‘wahoo’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

dorado ziggy 7-13 tags

Yes, Ziggy! You finally made the first photo in the fishing report! Our amigo, Ziggy Haspod from Santa Barbara spanked the nice dorado all week fishing with Captain Boli and our La Paz fleet with limits every day including this sweet bull dorado.

wahoo tags Pietak 2 7-13

Best wahoo season in my memory in years! There’s still wahoo on the high spots around Cerralvo Island. Darryl and Kathy Pietek pose with Captain Armando and one of 2 skinnies they hooked. They lost another one that busted the Rapala off. The Pieteks are from Loma Rica CA.

marlin mario salazar tags 8-13

Sometimes, when you don’t try so hard, good things come to you! Mario Salazar from the Los Angeles area was on a billfish frenzy the 3 days he fished with our Las Arenas fleet. I think the final count was 8 marlin and sailfish in 3 days. I lost count. He was fishing with our Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet. This was a release so you get the great photo of him fighting the fish! Most of the billfish we’re hooking these days are all getting released.

richard sellers dorado tags 7-13

Richard Sellers came to visit us all the way from Australia to do some freediving and spearfishing. It started slow but by his last day he said, he had dorado and marlin swimming around him like he had never seen before. He did get this nice bull dorado and also another “mystery fish” none of us had ever seen before. Scroll down to the last photo in the report!

Steven with Dorado tags 7-13

Big smile from Steve Heune from Modesto CA was on his first fishing trip with us. As per my report this week, his first day, he fished with our Las Arenas fleet and they ran into one of those days when the fish were lockjawed. We switched them for their 2nd day to fish with our La Paz fleet and they stuffed the fish box with a limit of dorado!

Dane full pulling on marlin tags 7-13

Might be my favorite photo of the week. It’s all about smiles. Dane Fuller pulling on his first marlin ever. Dane’s from Childress, Texas and was on his first trip to La Paz where he got his first marlin, and first dorado…and biggest dorado. Just a great Kodak moment in Baja. It’s not about fish in the box, it’s about smiles on the face and good times with amigos.

Dorado coach rea 7-13 tags

One of our favorites guys…Donnie “Coach” Rea from Ventura CA always does well fishing with us. He’s showing off another big bull he got this week fishing with our Captain Marcos and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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That’s alot of mahi! A thirty-pound-class dorado for Mike Figley from Arizona that he caught north of La Paz. There’s some nice big bulls around right now.

Lance with Dorado tags 7-13

Lance Heune from Modesto CA holds the gaff on a day when he put a nice limit of dorado on the boat in short order fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

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Late breaking news…just as I was putting together the fishing report Sunday night, our pangas hit giant Humboldt squid off Las Arenas. They made great bait for the dorado (and great eating!) and usually means that if they stay around, often the tuna rise up out’ve the trenches and follow them up! Hope they stick around. Captain Archangel hangs one of the big squirmers here!

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Our Australian amigo, Richard Sellers (photo above with the dorado) shot this while spearfishing. He called it a “triple tail” but none of my captains or anyone we knew had ever seen one. In almost 30 years fishing and diving here in Baja, I’d never seen one or heard of one so we ran to the books and internet. There are very few mentions of photos of them in Baja but folks from the Atlantic and Caribbean know all about them where they are much more common and, in Australia, of course! At first, I thought I knew what it is. But, it looked like a cross mutant between a pargo and cabrilla! The triple tail was good eating!

 

LAS ARENAS FISHING PICKY BUT OUR LA PAZ BOATS FIND GOOD ACTION ALL WEEK!

La  Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

It was a pretty decent week of fishing. Not the greatest, but not bad either.  Let me explain…

I have to say that I’m thankful we have our two fleets with one of them in La Paz and one of them at Las Arenas.  It gives our clients some choices about where to fish and we can also move them if necessary to get them the best conditions or to find fish.

As sometimes happens, weather or fishing dictates that sometimes one side will be better than the other.  It happens.  Normally, this time of year both our fleets are bendo and deep into all manners of fish.

However this past week, Las Arenas really sorta dropped off the fishing map.  Not one was it rougher from some long distance storms to the south that brought in some chop and swell, but there was a lack of bait.  Additionally, the better fishing was either outside at the buoys or all the way out at the 88 spot.

One the good side, the buoys held some decent dorado and the 88 produced more of those monster bull dorado and a number of hooks ups on striped marlin, sailfish and even a few big blues (all billfish either released or broke off).  But that’s a long way to run and if it was one of those bumpy days and you were one of the pangas that scratched, it’s a long long day.

Las Arenas just wasn’t happening.  The captains worked hard and busted humps looking for fish or trolling, but it was just one of those weeks.

But, like I said, thankfully, we had our La Paz fleet.  So, folks would try a day or two at Las Arenas then we’d have them switch over to our La Paz fleet.

And everyone got fish!  Limits or near limits of dorado from punk-sized schoolies to 30-plus pound bull mahi as well as some stripers and sailfish and even a few sharks hooked up.  The fish were well north so it was a bit of a ride and the bite was often late…well past 1 p.m. So, often I had to tell our clients, just be patient and let the captain fish.  Don’t jump the gun.  Sure enough…the late bite came in and there would be the feeding frenzy!

Sometimes our pangas weren’t coming back until 4 or 5 p.m., but that’s because our captains were working it hard.  We go out at 6 a.m. often several hours before the other fleets and my guys are willing to stay the extra hours to wait for the bite when other fleets are coming back at 1:30 or 2 p.m.  It made a difference and all of our clients this week still went home with full ice chests!

Bait as tough for our La Paz fleet as well, but going out extra early, we’re able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos then go look for some sardines.  Then go hook a few small bonito.  By the time you hit the fishing grounds, you’ve got 2 or 3 different types of bait aboard and gives you an edge.  Add in some trolling and now you’re cooking with gas!   But, as I said, we just had to tell folks “be patient.”  Our captains are all working hard to find the fish.  And we found them.  It was just later than normal!

MORE ON MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES

A few weeks ago, we started telling you about the big SNAFU with Mexico not printing out enough fishing licenses for the whole country.  Big Oops!  They’re trying to find a KINKO’s to handle it, but in the meantime, everyone is scrambling.

Baja still does not have any printed fishing licenses to sell.  They keep telling us “in a few weeks” but we’ve been hearing that for awhile.  In the meantime, the only way to have fishing licenses is still to purchase them online or find a tackle store there in the U.S. that sells them over-the-counter or online (some will mail them to you).  However, for southern Baja, they now have their own website to sell them that works pretty well.  Here’s the link:

http://apps.bcs.gob.mx/finanzas/finaweb/fonmar/

Just remember that the amounts are in pesos so divide the number by about 11 or 12 and you won’t have a heart attack!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 21-28, 2013

Kirk and ben rose wahoo 7-13 tags

It was a banner week for wahoo fishing this past week as we are in one of the best wahoo seasons in recent years. Kirk Rose and son Ben with Captain Armando just had one day of fishing to squeeze in with us and had never fished the area before and came up with the mega hat trick of three trophy wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet off Cerralvo Island

Marcos wahoo  tags 7-13

On vacation from college at St. John’s University in New York, Marcos Holguin had two days of double wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

Mike Figley tuna 54lb tags 7-13

Mike Figley spent the week with us fishing 4 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This was his 2nd trip with us and I had just been telling him how strong tuna can be. He goes out the next day and tangles with this nice yellowfin that kept him bent for almost 90 minutes! He’s a believer now. He also got some great dorado fishing in! Mike’s from Arizona.

Jorge dorado tags 7-13

Jorge Romero, our La Paz amigo, only had 2 hours to get in some fishing so he jumped on one of our pangas and between 9 and 11 a.m. he put 3 nice bull dorado in the box fishing north of La Paz. He was trolling some small hoochies behind the boat because he left so late there was no more live bait left.

wahoo tags Pietak 7-13

This trio had some fun! Tom Heaslet from Oregon along with Kathy and Darryl Pietak from the San Francisco Bay area, got 2 nice wahoo off Cerralvo Island. They also fished 2 days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and plugged the panga with dorado each day.

DAne Fuller dorado big 7-13 tags

Dan Fuller from Childress, Texas, had a great week with us for his first visit with Tailhunters. He got his first dorado. He got his biggest dorado. He got his first billfish! He’s here with big smiles…a big bull dorado…and Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Heinke dorado 7-13 tags

This might be my favorite photo of the week. Big smiles from Bob and his son Bo Heinke from the Los Angeles area showing off big bull dorado on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

wahoo steve holquin tags 7-13

Steve Holguin visits us each year but missed last year. He made up for it with two days of nice wahoo like this one from his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

smith sontag dorado 7-13 tags

These two amigos had 4 of the best days fishing…they got dorado, sailfish, marlin and several other species. Rex Smith from Arizona and Mike Sontag from N. Carolina had not shortage of big bull dorado like these two on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Group shot! Mike Figley, Bo Cullwell and Dane Fuller fished four days and on their fourth day had one of those wild banner dorado days that was a complete frenzy and will make for good story-telling filling 3 pangas with limits in short order and multiple hook-ups. They’re starting to unload one of the pangas here on the beach at Balandra Bay.

SLOW START PICKS UP STEAM AS FULL MOON RECEDES

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report For Week of July 21-28, 2013

The week started slow…picked up some steam…then sort of evened out as the week went on.  It took us a bit to recover from last week’s full moon with sporadic fishing, but some good catches of billfish for both our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets as well as some big dorado and even a few nice spots of 20-50 pound tuna that showed up north of La Paz.  As with previous weeks, although there might not have been a lot of fish, the quality of the fish gave many of our anglers personal bests in terms of their biggest fish ever caught or, for many, their first billfish caught and released.  It still wasn’t spectacular good fishing.

Then, the week suddenly turned on a switch and boom!  We had dorado going nuts for our La Paz boats where it was virtually one-stop shopping once the spots were located and dorado came crashing to the pangas with multiple hook-ups and our captains plugging the pangas within an hour of frenzied fishing and tired anglers coming back with frayed lines and big smiles plus ice chests full of fillets!

As well, we had a big-time flurry of wahoo and billfish late in the week for our Las Arenas fleets as well with some of our pangas getting 1-3 wahoo hookups per day and just as many sailfish or marlin.   Overall, the fishing for our La Paz fleet was better for sheer numbers while our Las Arenas fleet produced the trophy fish.

Some fishing suggestions if you’re headed down:

Bait has been hit or miss lately.  We’re doing a little more trolling than we’re used to.  Our folks are doing fine with what we have and use down here, in fact, most clients bring absolutely nothing with them.  However, if you’re coming down and want to fine-tune things a bit, I would suggest:

  • Some small trolling feathers.  Not many.  Surely two…a light one and a dark one with at least 60-80 pound leader
  • Little plastic “hoochie” skirts have been on fire.  We use them to sometimes catch bonito for bait, but the bigger dorado and tuna have really shown a liking for them the last two weeks
  • If the tuna are around, plain unpainted cedar plugs have resulted in some nice tuna catches as was as enticing some of the larger dorado and another plus is that the bonito don’t seem to like them
  • If wahoo are around or you want to chase them, Yo-Zuri Magnum lures or Rapala Magnum CD’s in black/purple or black/silver/white have been hot.  If you can or know how or can get your tackle store to do it, wire them up and take the treble hooks off and replace with single Siwash hook
  • Hook sizes for the varying types of bait we are using…#1, 1/0, 3/0 and 5/0 hooks.  Not circle hooks.  “J” style hooks
  • Flurocarbon leader in 30, 40 and 60 pound test.  No spectra

FISHING LICENSES

The Mexican government at CONAPESCA keeps telling us, “maybe in a few weeks” they will have printed fishing licenses again.  I guess that will happen when it happens.  However, for the foreseeable few weeks, the only way to get your fishing licenses to fish down here is to purchase them online before you come down.  The government did not print enough licenses for the year for the whole of Mexico so until the situation is remedied, you must purchase fishing licenses online.

Here is the link:

https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in the whole of Mexico has to purchase their licenses online.  

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:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 14-21, 2013

Mike Sontag dorado huge tags  7-13

Nice way to start out a trip! All the way from North Carolina, Mike Sontag, visits us each year, but had an incredible week fishing with us starting right off the bat with several of these huge bull dorado that were all in the 40-50 pound class outside of Cerralvo Island.

wahoo rex smith tags 7-13

Rex Smith has been an amigo of Tailhunters for years and has caught pretty much everything in our waters, but wahoo always eluded him until this past week when he put the wood to this nice ‘hoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island in the background. Rex is from Arizona.

Alison dorado 7-13 tags

Hard to find someone more fun than Alison Nagatani. It was a little rough out of Las Arenas their first day fishing but she was still got this nice bull dorado…her largest ever. Shortly after this, she accidentally fell in the water and came up laughing. She got her first billfish this week as well.

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First-timer from Washington State, Colleen Russ, had a great week of fishing with big dorado and quite a few billfish like this one posed with Captain Victor from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. This one could not be revived and was donated. Colleen was just hoping to catch “one big fish” during the week!

John Wessner dorado tags 7-13

From Delano CA, John Wessner was game. Even fishing with a recovering broken wrist, he did great on big dorado and billfish this week. He’s shown here with one he got north of La Paz fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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For weeks we’ve seen signs of big tuna off Cerralvo Island although hooking them has been difficult. David Vicino from Cancun MX, didn’t wait for the to come up…he went down and speared this big 180 pound yellowfin! Thanks to Tim Hatler, our amigo at Palapas Ventana for the photo. Yes…the beasts are there!  For those of you not familiar with spearfishing in our waters,  all of it is done by freediving…no tanks allowed.  All breath-holding in whatever you can carry in your lungs!

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On a well-deserved break from the Air Force, Pat Russ will be heading to officer’s candidate school when he gets back to Washington but he came down for 10 days of fishing and diving and poses with another colorful bull dorado and big grins!

Jess dorado tags 7-13

Jess Escobedo from Los Angeles had never been salt-water fishing. He had never even taken a vacation in his whole life. So, it was great to have him visit Tailhunter this past week here in La Paz where he got his first dorado and billfish like this one caught near Espirito Santo Island. Check the video clip below of Jess fighting his first marlin!

dorado allen and josh 7-13 tags

Clarence Foster and his big hat pose with Allen Burgess and one of their big bulls on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Both of our amigos are from Kansas and spent a week fishing with us.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

From our amigo, Charles Belnavis, who owns Kelp Fishing Clothing and Shogun Tatoo in Pasadena CA (he’s the best of the best for inking all of us up in the fishing industry!)  http://shoguntattoo.com/

He shared this fun clip of himsel and Jess Escobedo (pictured above) getting lit up by a nice billfish!  At one point, there’s a double hook-up going!  Turn up the sound!  This is some fun video and not very long!

 

 

BIG DORADO BILLFISH

TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2013

The week had some highs and lows, but overall, many more high spots than low spots with a solid week of fishing.  We even had a little rain come in on us, but it was mostly just a little bump in the overall bite.

Again, it was a big of big fish mostly.  It’s been like that the last few weeks.  It’s almost like all the fish ate steroids or something.  The dorado, especially for our Las Arenas fleet tended to be 30 pound line busters or bigger.  It was not unusual to see fish on the beach that bottomed out our 50-pound scale!  That fills up an ice chest really fast with a fillet from even a single fish.  I had one panga go out and on it’s first day get 6 fish that were all around 50 pounds and they still had 3 more days to fish!

But, the size of some of these fish has been quite a story.  However,  the showing of billfish has also been remarkable.  I’ve not seen this many marlin in our waters in many years.  As one of our anglers this week said, “I had 4…5…6 billfish swimming around the boat all the time when I’m trying to catch dorado.  It was really funny because we would move the boat away and they would either swim after us or would show up again!  They were like pigeons waiting to be fed.  My first day, I caught and released three and that was enough!”

Most of the billfish, whether marlin or sailfish, fortunately are being released by the anglers so that’s been very gratifying.  Other times, the anglers go through great effort trying to revive tired fish and it’s only the rare billfish that’s being kept.  Mostly because there was no other option.

However, one fish that is NOT getting released is the wahoo.  Like the marlin, the wahoo bite has been far better than we have ever seen in years.  The wahoo are mostly lurking on the usual high spots around Cerralvo Island and trolling early with big lures has been the most effective.  The biggest hinderance can sometimes be that there’s far too much traffic out there with boats zig zagging all over the spots.  But…ni modo…that’s just the way it is when the bite is hot…especially for wahoo!  So, the earlier you get to the spots the better the chances!

Also, we got into several nice spots of yellowfin tuna again this week.  Like last week, they popped up for a few days and went crazy then moved off, but we had spots of tuna pop up for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets which was a real welcome surprise.  Nothing big, but fun 10-20 pound footballs are a hoot good time.  We saw some bigger 100+ pound guys moving through the areas real fast as well, but no one could get on them, but we know they are there!

Our biggest problem has been the lack of sardines for bait.  We’re going through one of those times again when sardines are hard to get.  But, at least for us, we’re able to jig up larger baits like mackerel, cocineros, caballitos, zebra fish, mullet and ladyfish!  That might also have something to do with why we’re getting mostly big fish!  It takes a big fish to eat a big bait!

If you’re coming down, a few tips…

1.  If you’re bringing stuff, this is one of the few times when I’d recommend bringing a few feathers.  All you need are two.  A dark one and a light-colored one  Also, if the tuna are around, the plain wooden cedar plugs have been deadly and the bonito tend to leave them alone.

2.  Bring a sabiki or lucky Joe rig with about a 4 oz torpedo sinker

3.  I wouldn’t be out there fishing with anything less than 40 pound test, although, if you’re a light tackle fan like many of our anglers, at least use 40 pound test leader or higher

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2013

Higi guys dorado 7-13 tags mini

We were worried that fishing would be slow after the storm passed, but fishing jumped right back in. Showing off a day’s catch with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, George Higi, Will Klem, George Higi III and Will Klem Sr. strike a great pose with their dorado!

tuna dorad marlin steve robert 7-13 tags

Yes! Those are yellowfin tuna on the sand here with Steve Moratto and Rob Barton from Santa Rosa CA who squeezed in one-day of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and had a super day with yellowfin tuna, dorado and a striped marlin that they tried to revive but were unsuccessful. The tuna popped up and were crashing for several days with all fish being about 10-20 pounders. It’s been awhile since the tuna have been this thick.

Allen Clarence Josh dorado big tags 7-13

I can’t get a straight answer from my Kansas amigos as to who actually caught this fish, but it’s a beauty. Allen, Clarence and Josh all posed with it and did some pretty good fishing over the week they were here.

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From Diamond Bar CA, Bill Hsu has been a Tailhunter amigo for many years. But, everytime he comes down everyone else catches the wahoo except him. He made up for it with this one he caught with Captain Archangel off the south end of Cerralvo Island and also had another nice fish come unbuttoned.

becky csutoras tags dorado 7-13

“Happy Girl!” Becky Csutoras had the best fishing trip ever with big dorado and several marlin releases. Becky is an avid hunter and fisherperson and lives near Sacramento. Captain Joel from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps out!

Dorado Sybesma 7-13 tags

Unfortunately, because of the storm, long-time Tailhunter amigo, Sam Sybesma, only got to fish one day, but made the most of it with some great dorado fishing out’ve La Paz. He was fishing with Jeff Klassen. Their video with Captain Chito is below all this week’s photos. Check it out!

big dorado will klem 7-13 tags mini

He had the knack this past week for the big fish. Will Klem from El Segundo posted up a big bull dorado with Captain Armando from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet caught at the buoys.

rooster allen burgess tags 7-13

He’s always got the big smile for his photos. Allen Burgess from Kansas caught and released this nice roosterfish while Captain Jorge drove the panga. They were fishing near the Arenas lighthouse.

Esteban dorado tags xl 7-13

Esteban Romero does his best vaquero cowboy look while standing with a nice bull dorado. Esteban is getting really good at getting into the fishing reports lately with some great fish. Several years ago, he didn’t even like fishing! Andale, amigo!

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The photo isn’t very clear, but this is no doubt a big wahoo caught in the dim light of the early sunrise near Cerralvo Island by Stan Yung who was fishing with Captain Archangel. They hooked 3 wahoo this day but one got away.

dorado  mini grande jimmy csutoras tags 7-13

Jimmy Csutoras and Captain Joel show off another of Jimmy’s big dorado for the week.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Jeff Klassen fishing with Sam Sybesma and Tailhunters’ Captain Chito, got this clip of them sticking a big bull:

STORM PASSES AND FISHING RECOVERS NICELY WITH BILLS DORADO WAHOO & TUNA!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2014

The week started nervously as we waited to see what Hurricane Erick would do and it’s aftermath.  Up to then, fishing had been on the upswing and just our luck, Hurricane Erick sneaks up on us!  Grrrr…

Well, as it turned out, the storm blow off the west side of of Baja and into the Pacific.  Some of the southern areas got some rain and winds, but for the most part, here in La Paz, all we got were some clouds.  However, the storm did send some really big swells and chop our way and in one of the rare occasions, we canceled one day of fishing.

It’s rare and we could have fished.  But, we COULD have fished, but most of the fishermen had extra days to make up the day so there was no sense in sending out folks to be uncomfortable and get bounced around!  It’s supposed to be fun right?  And if they weren’t going to catch much fish, it seemed more logical to tell folks to hang at the pool and soak up some sunshine instead.  So, that’s what everyone did.

But, the downside to that is we never know how it’s going to be AFTER a storm.  I am always worried that the waters can be turned over and dirty or cold water moves in or the fish are just plain skittish!

Well, as it turned out, canceling the day was a good move!

The fish came back strong right out of the chute!  We got right back into a pretty solid dorado bite for our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet with some nice 30-40 pound fish.  La Paz had the better dorado bite out of the two areas with some nice patches of bull dorado. But, there were some hot spots out at the 88 east of Cerralvo and at the shark buoys off Las Arenas for the nicer bulls.

But, there were some great surprises…

Wahoo popped up on the south end of Cerralvo and we had some biters each day.  Dark Rapalas and Yo-Zuris trolled over the high spots were the ticket but also strangely mackerel-colored patterns also worked.

Additionally, hey…we finally got tuna!!!  Football tuna in the 10-20 pound class made for some great action not too far offshore Punta Perrico and Cerralvo Island.  Some pangas took limits of the flashing footballs in short order.  Several of our anglers said that slow trolling Cedar Plugs and dark feathers resulted in instant hook-ups.  Hopefully, this bite is just the vanguard of us finally getting into a lengthy tuna bite as we didn’t have any tuna to speak-of, last season!  Also, maybe the larger models will also show up!

The other fun even was the billfish.  As one of our guys told me, “Jonathan, I’ve never seen anything like it!  There were sailfish and marlin literally JUMPING out of the water around the panga!”  There were several days here this past week where every one of our pangas hooked at least one billfish but somedays where some of the boats hooked 2-4 billfish!  Most of the billfish were 60-120 pounds with some larger and almost all of them were released!

The fish are not very far offshore and I would recommend that anyone coming down bring some marlin feathers.  One color that seems really hot is a green and yellow that looks like a small baby dorado because there’s a ton of baby dorado in the waters…little itty-bitty 10-inch dorado that are like candy for some of the larger fish and even the monster dorado are also chasing the babies!  Food is food, I guess!  But, if you want to troll, bring 2 dark colored feathers and 2 light colored lures.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 1-7, 2013

dorado becky and jimmy csutoras tags 7-13

She called it her “best fishing day ever!” Rebecca Csutoras is an avid hunter and angler and was on her 2nd trip with us and dad, Jimmy Csutoras, both from the Sacramento Area. She spent the week fishing with us, but on this particular day landed a box load of big bull dorado and also released two striped marlin. It’s been a much better week of fishing this week than last.

George Higi III wahoo dorado tags 7-13

Oh the joy! George Higi III, from the San Diego CA area, man’s-up with a double lift of a big bull dorado and his first-ever wahoo taken near Cerralvo Island. George “grand slammed” in that he got 3 trophy game fish…the wahoo…the dorado…and also a striped marlin. This was his first time fishing with Tailhunters.

rooster bill lewis tags 7-13

He came to get a roosterfish so he came to the “roosterfish capital of the world.” Bill Lewis from San Diego CA shows off a gorgeous pez gallo with Captain Pancho taken near Las Arenas. This fish was released.

Hosmer dorado tuna 7-13 tags

Rick Hosmer and Randy Calvert had a week full of giant dorado averaging 40-50 pounds like the ones here with a chunky yellowfin tuna tossed in for variety. Rick said, “there’s some spots of 100-pound tuna out there at the 88 bank.” He’s with Captain Mundo here on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Kris Jo Biddle dorado tags 7-13

They only had 1 day to fish having traveled from South Africa with just a brief stop in La Paz. So, Kris and Jo Biddle made the best of it with two trophy bull dorado which they brought to our Tailhunter Restaurant for a big cook-out. This was their first time fishing…ever!

Esteban wahoo 7-13 tags

It seem the wahoo are back! We had several nice hook-ups this week south of Cerralvo Island like this one held up by our amigo, Esteban Ramiro, who took this on a dark Rapala slow trolled off the bank.

Becky Marlin 7-13 tags

Doing it right! Not only was this her first marlin, but Becky Csutoras got it back in the water and released this fish as well with the help of Captain Joel. They got this striper north of La Paz. She also got some nice bull dorado (see photo above). Dad released his first marlin as well. See the photo below!

Jimmy csustoras tags marlin 7-13

Jimmy Csutoras from the Sacramento area was fishing with his daughter, Rebecca, and Captain Joel and both of them got striped marlin this day (see photo above). Jimmy and Rebecca both released their marlin, and during the week also released their 3rd marlin to swim and fight another day. This as Jimmy’s first marlin.

Sierra Exif JPEG

Family shot of the Whittlesey boys! Norm Whittlesey with grandsons, Daniel and David, all from Washington areas. They didn’t get alot of fish, but made up for it with all nice quality bull mahi.

rooster chuck banning 7-13

Chuck Banning, like so many others, wanted his first roosterfish and got it done with Captain Adolfo and this great-looking rooster he caught near the Las Arenas light house and released. Chuck is from the San Diego area.

HOsmer dorado broken rod 7-13

Not all battles end so well! Parting shot with Rick Hosmer who battled big dorado all week, but this one got him back by busting the tip off his new Shimano stick.

BIG FISH MORE VARIETY AS WEEK FISHING GETS BACK ON TRACK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-7, 2013

The week started somewhat shaky and with a lot of trepidation given how erratic fishing was last week with wind, cold water, an offshore storm and a historic full moon.  But this, week ended up on a very optimistic note.

It seemed that with each day, conditions got better.  Water got bluer.  Waters got warmer.  More bait areas started to show up.  More sargasso weeds started to gather in the channels.  Waters calmed down and the chop and swell mellowed out.

And sure enough…the fish decided to play.  Not full chargers but we’ve had a very good week of fishing.

The dorado bite that has been so lacking hopefully turned a corner.  Again, not many small or medium fish.  Almost 90 percent of the fish were trophy 30-50 pound bulls.  I’m not exaggerating.  Several times we put all the fish on the beach on scales and NOTHING that came back was UNDER 40 pounds!  These were all huge world-class mahi with those big heads and attitudes when hooked.  I would say probably early in the week, most anglers weren’t used to the big boys and we lost 50% of the fish!

However as the week went on, we got better at it. Maybe 75% of the fish were making it to the boat.  Again, not a lot of fish, but when you put 2-4 huge bulls in the boat and maybe lose another 2 or 3…that’s a helluva day of exhausting fishing.

Add to that the appearance of more marlin and sailfish to spice things up as well as flurries of 20-50 pound tuna and then roosters along the beach and for most folks that meant some tired arms and full ice chests!  The marlin were almost all released and averaged about 100 pounds but we also hooked a few blues that were lost on light tackle.  Roosters were very repectable 40-50 pounders on the high side and we also hooked a few 30-50 pound wahoo as well.

Hopefully, thing will only improve!

That’s our story.  Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend!

P.S. At the time I’m writing this, we’re watching to see if Hurricane Erick will do anything. Probably nothing to us, but it might push up some big swells and chop from down south

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:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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.”

Read Full Post »

P1000837 ron rooster tags 6-13

We will never know! Salute to Ron Burgess of Temecula CA. This fish might have been a new world record roosterfish! But he released this fish knowing it was a big boy plus he and his amigos released 28 other huge roosters! This fish might have broken the IGFA record 114 pounder set in 1960. Estimated weight by captains were 120-140 pounds. It took at least 45 minutes on 40 pound test and three guys to lift it in the panga and 3 to release it where it swam away “still pissed off!”

Ron Rooster 3 tags 6-13

Another view of the big rooster just put in the boat. There were few photos as they wanted to get the fish back into the water as quickly as possible. Plus Ron couldn’t hold the massive fish up high enough to photo! Captain Loreto Green helps out. The fish was caught just off Punta Perico in shallow water using a big ladyfish for bait.  Full story below.

Taylor Murphey tags dorado flex 6-13

Love the pose and attitude! She’s had a great vacation catching dorado and wahoo this week, but Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA show some game with her big bull dorado taken near Cerralvo Island. Uncle Roger holds up the fish with smiles!

Bob Jennessee and Kirt Schlander tags 6-13 dorado-proc

Kurt Schlander lends a hand to his amigo, first timer, Bob Jennessee and another big bull dorado from Las Arenas. Kurt has been with us several times. All the dorado were big this week. Not many, but they were big models!

Dave Lester tags amberjack 6-13

One signal that the waters are still chillier than normal is that we’re still getting amberjack like this big toad fish that Dave Lester holds up! These are the big cousins to yellowtail. Great eating and can go over 100 pounds. We had one several weeks ago that might have just been short of the 155 pound world record.

Jeannine Stenzel dorado tags 6-13

“Did I really catch this?” Couldn’t be a cuter photo of our amiga, Jeanine Stenzel, from Nor. Cal who got into several ice sized dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. She’s holding the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Great colors!

Rooster Al Janc tags 6-13

Al Janc was fishing close to shore and got into it with another monster pez gallo roosterfish. I can’t remember a better rooster season than this one . Fish was released.

Dorado whitlow 2 6-13 tags

Mike Whitlow is a professional bass fisherman and specializes in using light tackle everytime he visits us from Washington. Mike got this fish north of La Paz. Fresh out’ve the water, the colors are incredible!

dog tooth pancho tags 6-13

We got some really nice pargo this week like this hefty pargo…dog tooth snapper pulled out’ve the rocks near Las Arenas. Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet does the honors on the beach.

dorado nancy lerch 6-13 tags

Lucky sunglasses for Captain Adolfo and Nancy Lerch with another big-time trophy dorado and big smiles. This was one of several.

Ryan and Ed Vander Veer tags dorado 6-13

Father, Ed Vander Veer from Washington and son, Ryan show off a great pair of bull dorado standing in the waters at Balandra Bay having fished north of La Paz where some waters are finally turning blue and sargasso patches are finally producing some dorado like these!

tuna grande tags 6-13

Everyone keeps asking if there’s tuna . Well, no one has really caught any yet this season but this slug 178 pounder was taken this week off the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island by one of the commercial captains. So, I guess there’s at least one tuna out there. However, following days produced nothing. But still exciting!

Jerry Pederson dorado Boli 6-13 tags

Our Captain Boli makes a funny face helping first-timer visitor, Jerry Pederson, from Washington with a nice mahi taken near Espirito Santo Island. We’re hopeful that the dorado bite continues to get better . The fish are having a late start this season.

dorado Bob Benjamin  tags 6-13

Here’s another trophy mahi that Bob Benjamin caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob was visiting us for the first time and has big grins.

dorado xavier lerch tags 6-13

Making a great fashion statement…cool hat…cigar…billowing guide shirt! Total GQ! Xavier Lerch has a huge bull mahi dorado he caught with out Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet on one of the days where nothing was smaller than 30 pounds.

aeromexico (1)

Hooray! La Paz finally has direct flights again from Los Angeles! This past week, Aero Mexico started flights from LAX to La Paz and will be flying on Sundays and Thursdays. We have not had direct flights for months!

Big yellowtail roger 6-13 tags

Usually our amigo, Roger Thompson is a virtual poster child on the Tailhunter fishing report with big fish after big fish, but this is too funny! Everyone keeps asking if there are still yellowtail around. Well…uh…yea…LOL…Roger caught this guy all the way out on the 88! Great parting shot!

VIDEO of the WEEK!

Here is some video footage of our good amigo, Roy Stenzel’s first marlin that he caught this week.  It’s great!  Roy sent it to me and said, “Excuse me if at the end I squeal like a little girl!”  The enthusiasm sure comes through.  Proudly, hat’s off…he also released the fish!  It’s short and fun.  Take a look!

BIG WEEK FOR FEW FISH BUT BIG FISH INCLUDING AN ALMOST WORLD RECORD ROOSTERFISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-23, 2013

What a week of fishing! In all honesty, it was not a great week of fishing.  Rather, it was a week of great fish!  So many large fish this week. It was literally quality over quantity.  We didn’t get a lot of fish, but the fish we got were really something to see including one fish that could have been a world record but we’ll never know!

The big rooster fish was caught by Ron Burgess of Temecula CA.  Ron and his group of 4 fished 5 days and boated 28 rooster fish with nothing smaller than 50 pounds.  Many of the fish were 70-90 pounds plus some hefty amberjack and dog tooth snapper.  They released every single one of their rooster fish so bravo to them!  Just an outstanding trip.

But, Ron’s fish was something to see.  Ron battled the huge rooster right off the rocks near Punta Perico next to the famous Las Arenas lighthouse which is arguably part of the “roosterfish capital of the world” which extends down to the East Cape area as well.  Las Arenas produced the world record 114-pounder in 1960 and Ron’s fish was estimated by several of our captains at “55-65 kilos” which would have bested the IGFA record by 10-20 pounds!

We will never know!  Tailhunters has a certified IGFA scale, but Ron and his guys like true sportsmen released all of their huge rooster fish!  Ron fought the fish for “better than 45 minutes” on 40 pound test using an 18-inch ladyfish for live bait.  “I was a head shaker the whole time!”

It took three of them to heft the big fish as gently as possible into the panga and they tried to lip-gaff the fish with as little harm to the fish as possible.  They got it in the boat; took some quick photos (which is why the photos aren’t that great and also because Ron simply could not lift the fish!) and then it took 3 of them to get it back in the water where it , “swam off strongly still pissed off” said Ron!

Ron said laughingly, “I was exhausted and beat up, but I picked up another bait and tossed it in and figured I’d rest, but another huge rooster grabbed it and I was hooked up again!  What an idiot!”

This is the 2nd monster fish from our area that might have been an IGFA consideration as an amberjack estimated at 135 pounds caught by Kevin Takatani was taken just a few week ago but was cut up before it could be weighed.  The IGFA record is 155 pounds.  We’ll never know!  But the legendary waters of La Paz and Las Arenas keep kicking out some super fish!

For the rest of the fishing, it was truthfully, hit-or-miss.  Some pangas would do well while others nearby didn’t fare so well.  Waters are still very turned over with warm water on the surface, but colder green water not too far below the surface.  However, the fish that were caught were generally the larger models.  Dorado “averaged” 20 to 40 pounds.  Pargo “averaged” 30 pounds.  Cabrilla “averaged 10 pounds.”  Sure there were smaller fish, but overall, the fish were really bigger or pretty much nothing!

We did have some wahoo and marlin and sailfish hook-ups but overall, the warm water season is really taking it’s time to get going!  Normally by this time of year, we are well into the billfish and dorado.  Not so this year!

Part of the problem also is that the winds keep jumping up and pushing that cold water up and around and disturbing the water conditions.  By now the winds should be long gone.  It seems like things are getting better with more blue water showing up but too early to commit at this time.

But, bottom line, we’re having the best roostefish season in my 20 years here!  For the last two months, La Paz had certainly been living up to it’s reputation for rooster fish.  More fish and bigger roosters than we’ve ever seen!

 MEXICO FLUBS FISHING LICENSES!

If you had not already heard, Mexico’s CONAPESCA committed a huge SNAFU!    They failed to print out enough fishing licenses for the country and for vendors like Tailhunters to sell to their clients!  That’s literally ha-zillions of licenses and lost revenue not to mention another shot-in-the-foot to the sportfishing and tourism industry making one more obstacle to come fishing!

Whereas normally, you could walk into our shop or office or most offices of outfitters in Mexico and purchase the blue tags, now one must go on line and struggle with the CONAPESCA website that often crashes and is highly unreliable.  That, of course assumes that you have internet and have a printer so you can print it out!  Many people still are not internet savvy or do not have online access or printers!

But, with patience, the system DOES work!  Here is the link below plus a video describing how to do it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueV0ov9mAxY

You  can purchase the online and it is important that you buy them before coming down.  Here is the website:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in southern Baja has to purchase their licenses this way! 
  • Make sure you forward this to everyone in your party who is coming down or purchase the fishing licenses for them. 

 

We found another option to the ridiculous frustration of trying to purchase fishing licenses online through the idiotic CONAPESCA Mexico website that keeps crashing!

My friend Tom Ward has a huge tackle shop in Orange Co. California and he has a stock of Mexican licenses on hand and sells them!  He mails them back to your regular mail but processes them the same day he gets the request:

Here’s the info:  http://www.thelongfin.com/mexican-fishing-license.html.  Their phone is:  714-538-8010.

You can also get them from CONAPESCA San Diego, but must send a cashier’s check.  They also process the same day.  Here’s the link:  http://www.conapescasandiego.org/.  Their phone number is: 619-233-4324

So, unlike the Mexican CONAPESCA site, at least there’s a phone number to talk to someone who speaks English!  Nuts that it is easier to purchase fishing licenses in someplace like California than in Mexico.

Landing in places like San Diego as well as many other local tackle stores, especially if you are in S. California have the licenses for sale or over the phone!

Hope that helps!!!  Sorry for the craziness. We’re as frustrated as everyone else!

 AERO MEXICO NOW DIRECT TO LA PAZ!

We also wanted to welcome Aero Mexico to La Paz.  We finally have a new airline servicing our city!  After many anticipated months, Aero Mexico started flying Sundays and Thursdays direct to La Paz from Los Angeles.  Great for all of us!

That’s our story!  Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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.”

Read Full Post »

wahoo taylor murphey 6-13 tags

We love having the kids get into this. Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA put up big smiles when she got into the wahoo this week near Cerralvo Island and poses with her catch! (Thanks for the photo, Roger!)

Vince Acosta rooster 6-13 tags

Take a look at the great colors! Our amigo, Vince Acosta from San Diego area put the wood to this roosterfish just off the sand near the Las Arenas lighthouse. He released the fish. Roosterfish tapered off this week, but some days were still banner!

dorado john gothi tags 6-3

Taking a break from the chill of rainy Oregon, John Gothi spreads the fin on a fresh bull dorado with Captain Pancho of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Great colors.

rooster dorene dannettelle 6-13 tags

Captain Pancho seems to get into alot of photos lately! Diane Woerner was visiting us on her first trip to La Paz from San Diego and got her first roosterfish as well. A quick photo then back into the water for a clean release!

wahoo roger tags 6-13

Local poster child, Roger Thompson always gets fish and knows how to make the photos look great. Roger was in the hot spot this week when the wahoo went “on the chew” near Cerralvo Island and lit them up! This is a beast of a ‘hoo!

PezGallo rooster jude martinez 6-13 tags

Big rooster for Jude Martinez with his personal best rooster estimated around the 70 pound mark taken north of La Paz. The fish was donated as it could not be released.

pargo donna thompson tags 6-13

Donna Thompson is the queen of the rockfish and never fails to put big pargo and cabrilla in the boat like this hefty barred pargo!

Rooster Bryan 6-13 tags dannetelle

Big rooster for Bryan Dannettelle who did CPR (catch photo and release) of this trophy roosterfish while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bryan is from Colorado.

dorado jonathan nina tags 6-13

New Mexico in the house with Jonathan and Nina Duc Le and some nice mahi they caught near Cerralvo Island. It was Jonathan’s 3rd trip, but he’s always come with the guys. This time Nina would not be left home so she came along and did some great fishing! Glad she came along!

CRAZY WEEK OF SPORADIC FISHING WITH UNUSUAL  COLDER WATERS AND WIND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 9-16, 2013

It’s been an erratic week of fishing as late spring winds brought up more cold waters from the deep and dropped water temperatures and and turned waters green.  Even in areas where the surface water seemed warm, below the surface, much of the water was cold.

The effect on the fishing was noticeable.  Fishing days were up-and-down.  One area could be good, but not far away another boat would get nothing.  One day we’d catch fish and the next day, winds would blow and stir things up.

Our excellent rooster fish bite took a hit.  We’ve had an incredible rooster fish season for the past 2 months, but things slowed markedly during this past week although there were some fun days when schools of the 10-20 pound fish were lots of fun on light tackle.  The larger fish were generally absent with only a handful of fish in the 20-60 pound class unlike previous weeks.

The chilling conditions also stumped the dorado bite that is way overdue in starting.  Normally, we’re seeing dorado back in April or so.  The bite this year is tremendously late.  Everytime it seems like were finally getting off the blocks and the dorado are ready to go, the waters get cold again and the dorado get lockjaw.  We did get a few but only scrappy numbers with fish about 10-30 pounds.  Far off the mark.

There were still some decent bites on pargo, cabrilla and amberjack and even a few marlin hooked but not enough for me to commit and say that the billfish are finally here in numbers.

The real highlight was the wahoo.  Last year, we probably had 6 fish caught all year.  We’ve far surpassed that months ago!  This week about mid-week we got a nice jag of wahoo between 10 and 50 pounds off the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island.  It was a nice surprise but no idea how long it will last.

NO MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES – URGENT

If you’re coming down to fish in Mexico, this is important to read:

We have just been informed by the Mexican government that they accidentally did not print out enough fishing licenses for the season.  Tailhunters is one of only a handful of places that is allowed to sell the over-the-counter.  But with no notice, the government now says they don’t have enough to give us to sell.  This has affected all of S. Baja.  Loreto, the East Cape and Cabo San Lucas have no licenses either.  Some are just fishing anyway.  We chose to follow the law.  No fun to look over your shoulder!

Not to stress.  You  can purchase the online and it is important that you buy them before coming down.  Here is the website:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

  • Click the American flag and it will be in English
  • You want to purchase the fishing license for the “FEDERAL ZONE.”
  • Do not be alarmed at the price…it’s in pesos!!!  So just divide by 11 or 12 and that’s the rate in dollars and it will show up on your credit card statement in dollars.
  • If it’s slow or doesn’t work at first, try again later.  With this announcement, everyone in southern Baja has to purchase their licenses this way!
  • Make sure you forward this to everyone in your party who is coming down or purchase the fishing licenses for them.
  • It is NOT a great website.  Actually, it’s terrible, but it’s the ONLY way to get fishing licenses right now.  If it doesn’t work at first, just keep trying.

No one has licenses right now and nothing until the Mexican government prints some out!  We’re getting calls from operators in Cabo and the East Cape as well as walk-in clients all asking if we have extra licenses to send-over or sell.  It’s crazy.  Tough on all of us, especially because we’re one of the few outlets that has permits to physically sell the permits making it very convenient for the anglers.

You MUST have a license to fish.  Even with this craziness, the inspectors are still out there checking!!!  How nuts is that?  We have alway made sure our clients have that LITTLE BLUE PIECE OF PAPER OR OFFICIAL DOCUMENT.  If you don’t have it or your operators or agents are not physically giving it to you, you cannot fish!  That’s the law.  Many operators “charge you for it” but you never see the document.  You MUST have it in your possession to fish.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience!  We know it’s a pain in the backside.   Everyone who is going to be on the boat must have a fishing license and they do inspect several times a week. 

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:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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.”

Read Full Post »

Don White dorado tags 6-13

With one of the larger dorado of the week, our frequent La Paz amigo, Don White of Oregon, was out at the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island when he nailed this beautiful mahi. Dorado action seemed like it was trying hard to get up to speed, but frequent winds kept the bluewater fish a bit reluctant.

rooster ty mitchell tags 6-13

Ty Mitchell from Washington was on his first visit to La Paz with Tailhunters and, over the better part or the week boated jack crevalle, dorado, snapper, sierra, bonito and several other species as well as his first roosterfish of his angling career like this one that he hooked and released near Cerralvo Island off Las Arenas.

Richard amber 6-13 tags

Or amigo, Rich Sawaski from Clovis CA put the wood to this great eating amberjack just off the rocks near Punta Perico in shallow water. These tough fish get over 100 pounds and are related to yellowtail, jack crevalle, pompano and roosterfish.

dorado nina duc le tags 6-13

New Mexico aboard with dorado! Nina Duc Le from Albuquerque NM, with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter Fleet was fishing with us for her first time. Big smiles and some great color off this fresh bull dorado!

rooster randy yofo 6-13 tags

Big smiles from Captain Adolfo and Randy Forestiere posing with another roosterfish just off the beach at Las Arenas. The roosters have been right off the sand now for about 4 weeks.  The fish was released.

grouper Deryck Matallah 6-13 tags

A good day of fishing for Deryck Matallah from Los Angeles who released all their fish except this big-time grouper taken out’ve La Paz. Largest grouper we’ve seen so far this year!

Jack Sawaske barred pargo 6-13 tags

A colorful tasty barred pargo (pargo mulatto) is a feisty tough rock fish that we’ve been seeing alot of lately. It’s tough to pull these guys off the reefs, but Jack Sawaske, celebrating his birthday poses with a nice fish.

dorado juan santana tags 6-13

Juan Santana from Washington trying to find the handle of good-looking dorado that is still struggling after coming out’ve the water. Juan was on his first trip with us and got this mahi with a live sardine. We saw more dorado again this week, but the full run hasn’t quite taken off.

Fred sawaske tags rooster 6-13

On his first trip with us, Fred Sawaske fished 3 days with us and got a variety of fish including another rooster which was released.

juan santana tags jack crevalle tags 6-13

Juan Santana is a character. We’ve got alot of rampaging schools of jack crevalle right now in the shallows near shore. Related to amberjack, pompano and yellowtail as well as roosterfish, Juan strikes a pose with his fish off Punta Perico.

rooster duc le tags 6-13

Jonathan Duc Le shows off his first-ever roosterfish that he caught just inside of Muertos Bay near where we launch our pangas off the beach. Jonathan is from New Mexico.  This fish was released. 

BILL HUBER flyfising rooster 5-13

Flyfishers have been having a great time on the roosterfish bite. Col. Bill Huber from Alaska says he got “schooled” trying to battle the roosters, but got the better of this trophy fish several hundred yards from the Las Arenas lighthouse.  All roosters for the week were released. 

Ty Juan beach 6-13 tags

Great sample of a good day of fishing variety right now…dorado…yellowtail…snapper…pargo…plus they released roosterfish…Juan Santana and Ty Mitchell show off a bit on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

FLURRIES OF DORADO SPICE DECENT INSHORE FISHING WITH ROOSTERS JACKS AND REEFFISH

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 2-9, 2013

We had a variable week of fishing this past week with seemingly a little of everything including fishing reports that ran the gamut from “just OK” to “very good.”  There was no way to say how fishing was going to be from one day to the next as changing water conditions and wind conditions seemed to have a major affect on the bite.

One day, we’d have great rooster fishing and the next day, the roosters were “no-show” but the pargo and snapper and cabrilla were willing to bite.  Likewise, we got all fired-up about the dorado that we were sure had finally arrived and would have a regular bite.  But, again…one day we’d have good dorado then the next day no dorado to speak of!

One boat could have a banner day of fishing with several species of fish and a boat next to it would struggle to get a bite.  It was crazy.  We did have a lot of species, however…roosters…jack crevalle…bonito…dorado…snapper…pompano…sierra…yellowtail…amberjack…several species of pargo…

This is all pretty typical of the type of fishing this time of year and something we just have fun with during the time.  As waters continue to warm, more blue water fishing usually become more evident.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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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roosterfish tags 1 5-13

From Chicago to the Roosterfish Capital…Captain Pancho gives Tim Sayre a hand posing with this colorful exotic roosterfish just off the beach near the Las Arenas lighthouse where the roosters again put on a show this past week.  This fish and all their roosters were released.

yellowtail tags jorge 5-13

Happy Hombre! Our amigo, Jorge Romero hoists a nice late season yellowtail he pulled up on a yo-yo yellow and brown iron near Cerralvo Island. He also lost a huge cabrilla shortly after on the iron as well. The presence of yellowtail tells us that there’s still cooler waters around!

SAYRE pompano tags 5-13

Bob Sayre looks like he’s not quite sure what he’s holding, but our amigo is holding a HUGE pompano that ended up on the dinner plate at our Tailhunter Restaurant. Bob’s standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos and caught this on a live bait near Punta Perico.

pompano tags tom ames 5-13

A battle-scarred pompano that our buddy, Tom Ames from Idaho, took on a flyrod that wore out both man and fish! We’ve had a run of nice big pompano. Note the flat waters and how close it was caught to the beach!

rooster randy choate tags 5-13

Randy Choate was here last year with us and wanted to get into some nice roosters. Looks like he’s trying to suppress a smile over this nice roosterfish taken in flat waters out of Bahia de Los Muertos.  They caught a number of these and released all the roosters.

dorado Laurie Kennedy 5-13

I’m really surprised we’re not catching more dorado right now given that our air temperatures are in the 90’s and it’s almost June. But cooler waters have hung on so there’s only sporadic dorado fishing…so far! But Laurie Kennedy from Washington got one in Bahia de Los Muertos fishing close to the rocks in flat waters with Captain Adolfo.

rooster ken fritz tags 5-13

Ken Fritz from Sacramento called this “the best fishing day ever!” He got into the great roosterfish bite right off the lighthouse beach at Las Arenas and caught and released a number of these roosters!

PEZ GALLO ESTEBAN Rooster tags LAS ARENAS 002

First rooster ever for amigo, Esteban Romero, who is very familiar to many of our fishing clients! Captain Fernando helps with the honors. This fish was released and was caught on a live sardine.

Andrew McCormick pulled up this fat barred pargo near Espirito Santo Island working a live bait near the rocks.  Great eating fish!  Andrew is from the Portland OR area.

Andrew McCormick pulled up this fat barred pargo near Espirito Santo Island working a live bait near the rocks. Great eating fish! Andrew is from the Portland OR area.  Andrew was on his first trip with Tailhunter to La Paz.

Jesus sierra 5-13-tags

Hard to believe this late in the season that we’re still getting sierra, but the tasty toothy fish are still hanging off the beaches which means we still have cool water hanging out as well. Young Jesus was out fishing for the very first time and give’s a thumbs up to Captain Fernando and this nice sierra that ended up as a big plate of fresh ceviche!

Kenton McGuire roosterfish tags 5-13

Holding it high! Kenton McGuire from Santa Barbara was on his first trip to La Paz with his dad for a quick vacation before heading off to the Air Force Academy and pulled in this trophy roosterfish as well as several others. All were released.

ROOSTERFISH STILL CENTERSTAGE OF SOLID INSHORE ACTION

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 12-19, 2013

Another solid week of some of the best rooster fishing of the season.  The hot spot extends from the famous Punta Arenas lighthouse and that area of white beaches south through Bahia de los Muertos and down to Boca de Alamo to the south.  This is the area that has the reputation as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World” and extends to the East Cape area as well.

It’s surely living up to it as many folks who have never caught roosters are getting multiple hookups.  The roosters are right up close to the sandy beaches in several feet of water.

As some of our anglers put it, “We’ve been surrounded by roosters every day!”  

These fish are running 10-50 pounds with some larger ones breaking off especially as anglers drop down their gear to have some fun on lighter tackle!  

“Every cast was a bite, but these fish are tough on the light tackle!”

“I had no idea how much they fight.  I’m outgunned.  I brought a light spinning rod and got broke off on the first fish and got spooled on the 2nd fish before we could chase it with the panga!”

“What fun…hooked, released and lost over 25 fish and I’m whupped!  I couldn’t stop a few that simply broke off!” 

In these same areas, there’s been a nice run of pompano up to 15-20 pounds plus schools of jack crevalle also marauding the bait schools along the beaches.

Our flyfishers have been having a blast casting to these fish as they boil along the beaches as well.

The rocks have been producing good action on pargo and cabrilla as well as the occasional yellowtail as the waters have not been warming as expected so we’re in a lingering transition with cooler and warmer waters all in the same areas.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube 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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International of La Paz for Week of May 5-12, 2013

rooster scott Mcguire 5-14 tags

Roosterfishing has been on fire this past week! Big fish and tremendous action! Check out Scott McGuire’s big rooster that he caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet while fishing with his son. They caught and released several big fish.

rooster al rodriguez 5-13 tags

One of my favorites photos of the week…Al Rodriguez with one of his roosters. Great colors and the big smile is priceless! Nothing beats fishing for roosters on light tackle and check out how close to the beach he’s fishing! This fish was released as were all his roosters.

Kevin Kennedy tags dorado 5-13

Definitely NOT a salmon! Kevin Kennedy came to visit us from Washington for the first time and got this gorgeous early season dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. With waters warming, we should be seeing more dorado.

dan and andrew tags 5-13

Our frequent amigo, Dan McCormick from the Portland area, brought his son, Andrew down with him for the first time and they did especially well fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet knocking out a number of solid yellowtail, pargo, and this fat amberjack over several days!

yellowtail kevin chang tags 5-13

Kevin Kennedy and I have been fishing amigos for many years, but I haven’t seen him visiting us in La Paz for a long time. He finally made it down and shows off one of the yellowtail he caught of Espirito Santo Island. The yellowtail are getting more scarce as the waters get warmer.

Bob Coon rooster tags 5-13

For everyone who asks all the time about our popular Capt. Pancho, he wraps himself up all the time with his hoodie, hat and bandana because he’s alergic to excessive sun which is hard for a panga captain in Baja! But he’s one of our best and probably more of us should follow his lead when it comes to sunburn! But check out this trophy rooster he got for Bob Coon just off the sand at Las Arenas near the lighthouse! The fish and others were released.

rooster JP tags 5-13 two

Big boy slugger roosterfish for my old amigo from Florida, JP Perkin, who I first met more than 20 years ago when he was running a famous tackle store on the pier in Santa Barbara CA before moving to Florida! Great fisherman! Nice rooster that got released.

Laurie Reynolds rooster tags edit 5-13

What a great photo! Laurie Reynolds of Long Beach was out with our amigos, Roger and Donna Thompson, and they got into a fast and furious roosterfish bite at Boca de Alamo south of Bahia de los Muertos! I love the colors in this photo. Thanks, Roger! The ladies really did well this week!

kuhn cabrilla 5-13 tags

When my amigo, Bill Kuhn, pulled this one up off Espirito Santo Island while fishing with our Captain Joel, we figured it was the biggest cabrilla we had ever seen, but on closer exam…it’s a grouper! Made for some great fat fillets! Bill lives in Laguna Beach CA.

roosterfish adolfo and Laurie tags 5-13

All smiles…must be the cool sunglasses! Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Laurie Kennedy from Washington on her first visit to La Paz and her first rooster!

mantas-tags 5-13

Couldn’t pass up this great photo of a school of manta rays passing by one of our fishing pangas in the blue water of the Sea of Cortez. Thanks for the photo, Kevin!

ROOSTERFISH PUT ON A SHOW AT LAS ARENAS!  MAYBE BEST EVER…

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 5-12, 2013

We’ve have an incredible week of variety and one of the best weeks of rooster fishing that I can remember!  I guess there’s a reason they call our area the “Roosterfish Capital of the World. ”

I was getting a bit worried about the roosterfish because normally by March or so we’ve got pretty decent biters and it’s fairly consistent by May.  But up to about 3 weeks ago, it had only been hit-or-miss in that famous area near the Las Arenas lighthouse where the world record 114-pounder had been caught a number of years ago.

Roosterfish are one of the most prized and sought-after species in our area.  Extremely exotic, anglers come from all over the world to get a shot at them with their fiery black racing stripes and iconic dorsal fins.  These fish inhabit the pristine white sandy beaches and blue waters of the southern Baja and perhaps no more prolifically than in the 10 or so miles of beaches around Las Arenas and down towards the East Cape…but especially the lighthouse.

These fish can be found in waters that are only a few feet deep and are known to tear up the bait schools of sardines and mullet that come into these areas at this time of year.  The fish can be school-sized 5-10 pounders but 10-40 pounders are not uncommon and an incredible sport for flyfishers and light tackle anglers.

The fish this week have stormed the beaches with our pangas getting 2, 4, 8 or more roosterfish per day with fish in the 20-60 pound class and some larger getting away!  Many anglers are getting their first ever plus more.  Others are getting their personal best largest roosters!  These are hard-charging members of the jack family and often the pangas have to chase the fish up and down the beach to keep up with them!

As a bonus in the same areas, there’s some monster jack crevalle, also known for their tenacity and known as “toros” in Spanish which appropriately means “bull.”  As well, there is another member of the jack family in these same areas which are the African pompano.  The great thing about the pompano is that they make for incredible eating whereas the jack crevalle and roosterfish taste terribly with their black/ red stringy meat and almost all those fish get released.

In other action, the reefs and rocks are producing good action on cabrilla (sea bass), pargo (several varieties up to 20 pounds) plus some big amberjack up to 40 pounds and sierra.  Yellowtail continue to hit, but sporadically.  The best spot is now north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.  Waters are warming and we expect the yellowtail will continue to diminish and more blue-water species like dorado moving in.  I’m seeing more sargasso around the channels and the influx of the floating seaweed is a good sign that dorado will also be arriving soon.  So far, we’ve had some dorado already in but we’re waiting for the main body to show up!

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:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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.”

 

Read Full Post »

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