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!
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.
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.
Mike Whitlow and dad, Bobby, (Kennewick WA) stand amidst a “pretty good day of fishing.” They didn’t catch ALL these fish, but did pretty well. Actually, the fish are the lineup of 6 of our La Paz pangas that afternoon. The fishing started out slow because of Hurricane Paul, but as the week went on the dorado came charging back!
Great colors on this fresh bull taken north of La Paz by Ed Vander Veer on light tackle. This nice quality fish that Ed’s holding was pretty typical of the better sizes this past week plus many larger!
First timer from San Francisco, Steve Pinedo, got caught the first day and stalled by the hurricane and almost didn’t make it! But he got back in a good way with some outstanding dorado fishing including this hefty bull with Captain Marcos his first day of fishing.
From Clackamas, Oregon…fishing partners Todd Carver and Don Hines stacked some good fish later in the week after a slow start, but made up for it with some nice quality fish like these dorado while posed at Balandra Beach.
Trophy sailfish for Mary Heilman Vander Veer, our amiga from Washington. Mary will fish anytime…any place even in the rough weather we had before and just after the hurricane. She got her first sailfish here with our La Paz fleet after battling it on light tackle. Attempts to release the fish were unsuccessful and the fish was donated. Nicely done.
We had amigos from all over this week! From Arizona, Darrell LaMoure gets a hand from John Osborne on their first trip with us in La Paz. That has to be the shortest fattest bull dorado I’ve seen all season! It’s a trophy fish!
Al Yetter has already made two trips to see us this year and is working on dates for 2013. From Colorado, Al never seemed to stop laughing. Great colors on this hot bull dorado taken out of Las Arenas. Captain Pancho looks on!
Birthday fish for first timer, Craig Brown and Bob Layco, who came to see us from Washington. They also had to wait a day or two for the storms to pass, but got into the fish their last day and pulled on some good dorado like these two north of La Paz!
Charger fan in the house! Mike Shaw holds up one of his big dorado he caught while visiting us from San Diego on his first outting with Tailhunter. This fish was taken on live bait with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Kenny Cambell hold up one of his Las Arenas dorado. Both our Tailhunter fleets had good showing this week after the storm passed. Las ARenas seemed to have more fish and La Paz had the larger fish!
This beautiful pargo mulatto (barred pargo) caught by Don Hines from Oregon ended up serving 13 people at our Tailhunter Restaurant that night! He was fishing with Captain Rogelio striking a pose in the background.
Lots of great amigos from Washington and Oregon these past few weeks including Erick Johnson fishing with Captain Alfredo putting this hefty bull dorado in the box near Espirito Santo Island.
Great time for light tackle! Bill Leech, all the way from Florida kept his spinning gear handy and took a nice dorado in the shallows!
HURRICANE PAUL BRUSHES BY BUT FISHING RECOVERS FAST WITH DORADO CHARGING BACK!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 14-21, 2012
What a crazy week! It started off well, but then a surprise hit as we were winged by the edge of Tropical Storm Paul that turned into “HURRICANE PAUL!” Fortunately, we dodged the big bullet unlike our fellow cities to the north like Loreto ,but in La Paz we were still hit with winds and 2 days of rain that were enough to cancel our pangas and keep our clients hotel-bound for a day-or-two!
Believe me, that’s as tough on us as it is on our clients to have to stay indoors during their vacation!
But we started out again by Wednesday and with each passing day, conditions improved. In fact, they got better fast! I was amazed at how fast the muddy cloudy waters cleaned up. Faster than normal, which I’m sure had something to do with the improved bite.
Also the hurricane like winds did take a few days to diminish and we did have a few queasy souls out there the first few days after the storm (but some admitted it was abetted by too much tequila consumption the night before!). But, again ,with each passing day the weather, water and winds improved. In fact, since the storm, we’ve had some of the prettiest days in a long time. Just brilliant blue. The surrounding hills and mountains also could not be greener or more vibrant with flowers, grass and trees going full turbo…and the wild cows eating like it’s a free buffet line! But, we’ve had more rain in the last month than we’ve had in 5 years combined!
As for the fishing, as I mentioned, we started the week well. It’s been a pattern all year. We get going well then a storm comes along and changes the fishing landscape.
However, the dorado fishing by the end of the week was going solidly . This is for our La Paz as well as our Las Arenas fleet! Not only did we have good number with limits being common, but also, the quality of the fish has been much improved. We’ve probably gotten a better ratio of bulls and fish in the 20-40 pound class than we’ve had all year.
The fish have moved around quite a bit, but with a little patience, we’re finding the fish. You just have to be patient. Some of the clients have admitted that they were getting discouraged when they had not had a bite by 11 or 12 noon, but then all of a sudden the rods went off and it was crazy nuts until the fish box was full! The late bite has been a common pattern. So, just hang in there!
In addition to the dorado, every day we’re getting marlin and sailfish hook ups with most fish being released plus nice roosterfish are still working as well up to about 40 pounds. A few giant trophy pargo and cabrilla also being caught! Unfortunately, no tuna but giant squid seem to keep popping up every few days.
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!
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.
A rare and treasured fish…at least this year! There’s been a dearth of wahoo caught this year. Only a handful have shown all season when we should be really getting into them! But Harry Hsu got this 30-pound class ‘hoo fishing with our Las Arenas fleet just south of Cerralvo Island.
Triple generation “man-cation” for Larry Bodle from Huntington Beach, his son, Ernie, and dad Jim. They blasted a nice day of dorado with us as they pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.
San Diego in the house! Alex Trasvina (closest to the camera) gets in the line up with dad, and cousins after a solid dorado day at Las Arenas. One of their boats had limits before 11 a.m. and were back on the beach goofing for roosterfish.
Bill Hsu from Diamond Bar CA had a successful 3 days fishing with us as we had better activity than we’ve had in a long time with our Las Arenas fleet. Bill took this nice dorado on bait.
Earlier in the week, we still had lingering clouds and rain, but the dorado still cooperated. This is our son-in-law Brian Reid celebrating his birthday with us, our daughter, Jessie from Las Vegas and that’s Scottie Roughgarden from Hollywood CA playing around in the back!
People often forget that while everyone is a bit offshore chasing the “glamour” gamefish like dorado, inshore offers some great fishing. Stan Yung and his daughter Shantel spent several days working the reefs and rocks and went home with a mess of cabrilla and yellow snapper which are incredibly delicious eating! Stan was on his first trip with us and is from Glendale CA.
Gloria Paymani is a producer from Hollywood and is one of our newest fun Tailhunter amigas! She busted several days of fish and tied into this HUGE bonito that she says ran her around for “20 minutes” before she got it to the boat with a hand from smiling Capt. Alfredo with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Colorado has been well-represented this year and this week was no different. Laura and Rob Duerr from Denver rocked the boat with a load of dorado and yellow snapper and pargo this past week and pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.
Ron Koslowski is probably wondering “How did a trigger fish end up in the fish box with all these dorado?” Fishing with Captain Pancho he and his wife stacked the panga fish box with a load of dorado to take home to Colorado.
LAST MINUTE ADDITION! Just as I was publishing this fishing report (Sunday night), Ernie Bodle and Scott Sylvester sent in their photo from Sunday’s great dorado bite! I had to get it into the report. Ernie got this nice wahoo and took the family jackpot (there were 7 of them fishing) plus Scott nailed the big bull dorado!
POST FULL MOON ANGLERS WORK HARDER FOR FISH BUT LAS ARENAS AREA WAKING UP FINALLY!
La Paz -Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 2-8, 2012
It would seem that our bite during the full moon was a lot better than our bite AFTER the full moon this past week. While there were definitely some high spots for fishing this week and some good catches, I would have to say that fishing was only spotty to good during this past week. I’m not sure whether to blame it on the after-effects of last week’s rains; clouded water in some spots; or what. I really can’t put my finger on it as there really doesn’t seem to be much different this week than last week when we had numerous afternoon showers. But, the bite definitely wasn’t as good.
Dorado were our main species again this week. Every day a few boats got into them nicely for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. A few boats would find the right spots and get bent nicely but then other boats would scratch and scratch. The next day, it would be just the opposite. The “hot boat” or the “hot spot” would get cold and a different boat; set of anglers; or area would turn out to be the hot area. No real rhyme or reason that even our captains could discern.
Las Arenas did better than it has been. That was encouraging. Much more dorado with some nice schoolie fish. Las Arenas all year has literally been slower than slow except for roosterfish. But this week we got into some decent dorado, roosterfish plus even a (surprise) wahoo! Pargo were also a good fallback with pargo mulatto (barred pargo) and yellow snapper filling some coolers.
La Paz was OK. Steady, but as mentioned, hit-or-miss. Dorado ranged from smaller 10 pounders to some 25 pounders. A few larger ones got away. We also had a few sailfish show up in the bites with all fish released.
Hopefully, this week is just a bump in the road and we’ll be back on track by the time you’re reading this!
By the way…not sure how much of a difference it made, but some of our guys brought fresh frozen squid with them this week and swore it made a difference on the dorado so…if anyone wants to bring FRESH frozen squid (not the stuff you buy at the bait store), it wouldn’t hurt.
NEW ADDRESS
Tailhunter International has moved it’s U.S. address. While Jill and I still live full-time down here in La Paz, our U.S. office is:
TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL
3566 Quail View St.
Spring Valley, CA 91977
or
TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL
P.O. Box 1149
Alpine CA 91903-1149
TWITTER AND FACEBOOK
Don’t forget, if you need a bigger dose of our fishing and other things from down here in La Paz, you can follow me personally (Jonathan Roldan) on Facebook and Twitter then “like” TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL SPORTIFISHING and “like” TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL (the restaurant/bar).
Have a great week! This coming week is going to be crazy…MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY is like New Year’s Eve and Spring Break and 4th of July all rolled into one on the 15th/ 16th of this week!
It was a great week for the larger dorado! Captain Victor gives and assist to Nicki Vavao on a huge pig-of-a-bull doado! It was not unusual to see 30-50 pound fish this past week. Nicki took over an hour to put this fish aboard, but total props to her. Not only was it her first time fishing in Baja. It was her FIRST TIME fishing…EVER! And this is her FIRST FISH…EVER! That’s gonna set the bar pretty high for the future!
Once again, the ladies were on fire this week! Geri Sandstrom, is from Idaho and she’s LOVES to fish, but had never gotten anything larger than big kokanee. Needless to say, she more than topped her personal best with 3 days of solid fishing for dorado and roosterfish!
We love having father-son fishing trips! Tom Slaughter and his son, Mike, spent 3 days fishing and snorkeling with us and got into some of the nice dorado bite we had including these two while posing at Balandra Bay north of La Paz.
This has been one of the best roosterfish seasons ever! Take a look at this huge trophy roosterfish that Scott Voldness took off Las Arenas. Scott’s from Utah and the big fish was released.
From Arizona, these two were a kick to have around for 4 days of fishing. Joe Cullwell and Dylan Martin hold up a double pair of dorado after one day of fishing north of La Paz.
Sam Sybesma comes to see us every year. He spent a few days fishing with our La Paz fleet having fun with the dorado but on his last day went with our Las Arenas fleet to see if he could get a roosterfish! WINNING! That’s Punta Arenas Beach in the background.
Another one of our father-son trips this week. Lyndon Mumm and his son, Matt, pulled on some great dorado during the week. Big smiles all the way around. They also took our island snorkel trip with the sealions as well.
Our good amigo, Dick, had to cancel his trip this last year, but towed his boat down to get in on the dorado bite and shows off his first day catch with, Randy Lyons.
Good way to start the week with a striped marlin for Al Sandstrom from Idaho. It was another good week on the billfish with most fish running 90-150 pounds. I believe we got over 20 hooked this week with all but a few released. We probably had another 10-15 break off or get unbuttoned. Al got this his first day and also got into the dorado nicely!
Jimmy Csutoras almost didn’t make it down, but got here at the last minute and slammed into nice dorado like this one. Jimmy is from Northern Cal.
Brothers Fred and Mike Sontag rolled on the dorado big time after 4 days fishing. Fred is from St. Louis and Mike is from S. Carolina. They hold up a nice pair standing on the beach at Balandra Beach north of La Paz.
BIG BITE OF BIG DORADO SET PACE FOR THE WEEK WITH ROOSTERS AND MARLIN!
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 8-15, 2012
It wasn’t as spectacular as last week’s dorado slam during the full moon, but there was some excellent fishing to be had nonetheless. I was a little worried as the first 2 days of the week it was like someone turned off the mahi-mahi spigot!
Whereas the week before our anglers were reporting 10, 20…40 or more dorado hookups per day and releasing fish as fast-as-they-could-go, the first two days this past week suddenly shut down to 2 to 6 dorado per panga. That’s a huge drop in production! I was sweating!
However, as the week went on, we got into a little rhythm again. It was not wide up and there was an occasional day or panga that had an off-day, but more-often-than-not, the fishing day produced limits or near-limits of dorado. If you were only fishing 1 day, that might be the day you had the stink on you, but if you fished 2, 3 or 4 days, at the end of the trip, our clients usually still found they had more fish than they knew what to do with! They might have a day or two that was less than stellar, but then they had another day or two that was an explosion of fish that made up for the other slack times.
Often, I had to tell our anglers to just be patient. Often, the days started slow. I mean…really SLOW! It’s noon and they have 1 fish aboard! Then, at noon or 1 p.m.often when other fleets are heading in, our guys would hang out just a bit longer. It would be all the difference in the world as that late bite would turn into dorado pandemonium with double-triple-and-quadruple hookups! Often, our captains weren’t bringing in our clients until 3 or 4 p.m. or even later…giving that little bit of extra time to get onto the bite.
The coolest thing about this week that differed from last week was the appearance of some big quality bulls. Whereas last week there were just a few of the fish over 20 pounds, this week fish between 25 and 40 pounds were hooked daily and many of the larger fish were lost and the clients coming back with only wide-eyed stories of big battles or broken lines. Even some of our captains were talking about 50-pound class fish swimming out there or busting off after long fights.
Another big surprise were the marlin. I think this past week, I counted over 20 striped marlin hooked amoung our Tailhunter anglers of which almost all of them were released. There were probably as many that broke off or came unbuttoned during the battle. Personally, I think the marlin are more active because there’s not only more bait in the water (sardines, mackerel, cocineros, jacks, and caballitos), but also, there’s so many little dorado swimming around that they’re feeding on the young dorado. In fact, one of the best trolling color feathers right now just happens to be yellow and green!
One other item of big news…LAS ARENAS FINALLY TURNED ON!
That’s major headlines. After almost 3 months of some of the dreariest fishing I have seen in years with no bait, we finally got some smaller tiny sardines this week as well as the larger baits and what a difference it made! It wasn’t wide open, but our pangas were getting into some nice dorado between 10 and 15 pounds, but also some of the big slugger mahi over 30 pounds. In addition, it also produced good billfish action…I think one day 3 of our pangas hooked and released 7 marlin alone! Plus, the roosterfish continue to bite as well. So, this is all very promising and I’m glad both sides finally started to kick out some fish!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Yes! Even we get to fish now and then and it was great to get on the water with Jilly for an epic day of non-stop dorado fishing where we hooked and released over 40 fish before noon! Great week of dorado fishing even with the full moon! Here, Jill ducks behind Captain Joel with another bull dorado that was thrashing around wildly before Joel released the fish!
The ladies were on fire this week! Especially alot of first timers like Sylva Ourghoulian from Pasadena CA who came with our long-time amigo and her new husband Avo. Avo is a great fisherman and wanted to have a good experience for Sylva. She got limits of dorado each day plus some nice roosterfish!
Like I said, the ladies were rocking this week! From Sacramento, another first-timer, Becky Csotoras, was just off the Las Arenas lighthouse when she caught and released this nice roosterfish. She and her dad also got into the dorado bite this week as well.
Every time he comes down, Fred Sontag, from St. Louis MO says, “This is the best trip ever!” Four days of hot dorado, roosterfish and marlin fishing resulted in lots of fillets headed back to the midwest including this trophy big-headed bull dorado taken near Espirito Santo Island.
Our long time friend from Colorado, Doug Oclassen got his son, Andrew out with us for a day and off Las Arenas pulled in some nice roosterfish like this one. It’s turning into thee best roosterfish season in memory. Pretty much 99 percent of all the roosters like this one are getting released. Great job, guys! Andy is looking alot like dad these days!
Not many of these in Montana! Phil Matteson said he got “everything on his bucket list” on this trip to La Paz, his first! Dorado, roosterfish and this marlin shown with Captain Boli holding on!
Rex Smith has been visiting us for years. Our amigo did three days fishing with our La Paz fleet and had limits of dorado like this one every day. Rex is from the Phoenix AZ area and is posing here at Balandra Beach north of La Paz.
Big smiles for another of our ladies who had a good trip. From Utah, Kim Woodard, shows off another nice bull dorado that jumped on the line. Kim and her family had good results on dorado and roostefish over several days of fishing with us!
Fishing with grandpa, John Ehlers, from Colorado, 14-year-old Cheyenne says she cannot get enough of the ocean and was on her first trip ever to La Paz! Posing here with our popular Captain Pancho with our Las Arenas fleet, she’s holding one of several big roosterfish she caught and released. She also did several days of banner dorado fishing with grandpa, John!
One of the larger striped marlin of the week, Mike Sontag, has visited us a number of times and finally got his billfish. From North Carolina, Mike’s fish was estimated at about 150 pounds. The billfish have really gotten up to speed this past week even with the full moon and about 90 percent have been released. Mike’s panga hooked two others that got away.
More big smiles to go with a big dorado! The ladies were pulling hard on the fish all week and Karen Matteson from Montana was no exception. Nice dorado…big roosterfish…pargo…a real good trip and nice to have fun folks from Montana. I think Montana people just bring good fishing with them! Nicely done, Karen!
Dustyn Woodard is 17-years-old, and had a great trip sticking a bunch of big roosters with Captain Gerardo and releasing them all. He and his family, from Utah, also popped some great dorado. This was Dustyn’s first trip to see us.
Northern Cal resident, Jimmy Csutoras, saw an article in the S.F. Chronicle about Tailhunter and booked a trip with us. He got dorado and roosters and also got one of the only pargo we’ve seen in awhile! He got several of these nice barred pargo. That’s Punta Arenas in the background and they were very close to the beach!
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Check out this underwater clip in slo-motion of a wild dorado hooked (then released)! Turn up the sound. If you can’t see the embedded video clip, click the youtube link!
FULL MOON PRODUCES BEST DORADO BITE OF THE SEASON!
La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 1-8, 2012
What’s the big deal about the full moon? I keep telling people it really doesn’t seem to make much difference down here. As a matter of fact, we just had the best dorado week of the season in the full moon. At times, folks were catching and releasing fish as fast as they could go! Somedays the bite was later in the day but other our anglers were full of fish by breakfast time! Once it started it could be pandemonium with double and triple hook ups. Some of our clients told us they released dozens of dorado each day.
Most of the dorado fishing was north of La Paz and was found in a nice wedge from the Las Cruces/ Gordo area then up to the east side of Espirito Santo Island and up to the Charo Bank. There’s a nice current line of sargasso weeds holding fish all up and down that area. There’s lots of voracious 10-15 pounders all along that area that are almost fighting each other to get to the hooks but there’s also some nicer 20-50 pound bruisers mixed in as well. In the last 2 weeks, it’s like someone threw a switch!
On Friday, Jill and I snuck out for a “quick day of fishing.” What we ran into was one of our all-time best days on the water in 16 years of living here. We ran into that line of sargasso weed along the east side of Espirito Santo Island. Just on a lark we did not follow the rest of the fleet that morning which had gone south to check out the Las Cruces area where the dorado had been biting fairly steadily.
Our first bait immediately got slammed…as did our 2nd and 3rd…by 8 a.m. we had caught and released almost 20 dorado! By 10 a.m. we had over 30 fish hooked and released. And we were still the only ones fishing the area! By 10:30 we were joined by the rest of the fleet and everyone hooked up! There were dorado everywhere. Under the boat, it looked like a fish pond! There were dorado darting in and out of the weed line and current break. Dorado were jumping following flying fish and one flying fish smacked Jill on the arm followed by a dorado that was chasing the bait that blew up in her face and narrowly missed her.
By 11 that morning we stopped counting at 40 dorado caught and released! By this time we had switched to complete circle hooks and were also using all kinds of goofy lures that were in the tackle box! Our last 3 fish were caught by us just dangling BARE HOOKS in the water and watching dorado come out from under the boat and 1…2…3…SLAM! HOOK UP! BARE HOOKS!
As we pulled off the spot at 11:30 so we could back to the office, dorado were still jumping all around the boat as if yelling, “FEED ME! “ Way fun day. Of course not every boat did that well, but more often than not all the pangas this week fishing La Paz came back with limits. And if not, a quick query would tell you that they lost quite a few fish!
In that same area, especially with all the smaller punk dorado around, marlin and sailfish have also moved in to the area and are actively feeding. We had quite a few hooked, lost and released this week with most in the 100-120 pound class.
Around Las Arenas, our fleet there continues to do well on the roosterfish. If you’ve ever wanted to check a roosterfish off your “bucket list, ” this has been the year for it. Roosters in the 20-50 pound class have not been uncommon and they’re very close to the beaches where you can visually cast to them and watch the pick up! Pretty exciting stuff to watch those huge dorsal fins cut through the water! Las Arenas also produced some marlin and sailfish for us this week as well as pargo.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
That’s a mouthful! Our friend, Rich Jones, from Hyrum Utah knows a photo opportunity when he catches one! Take a look at the great colors on this fresh giant bull dorado he took this week north of La Paz! It looks like dorado season finally hit!
Lots of first-timers visiting us this past week including Rob and Natalie Carroll who took advantage of the dorado bite that finally kick started with a nice roar. This big bull was caught near Espiritu Santo Island on live bait.
Yes, it is THAT big! It’s 89 pounds to be exact and Roger Thompson and Captain Hugo have a knack for big fish! Roger was fishing around Cerralvo Island and stuck FOUR big wahoo including this TREE! Of course, the next day everyone went to the same spot and nothing showed up! But, what a day for Roger!
Like I said, lots of first timers this past week and many went home with some great stories to tell. Like Kelly Jimenez, who’s been trying to fish with us for years and finally made it down from Loveland, Colorado. On her first day, she stuck this trophy roosterfish just south of Bahia de Los Muertos! The fish was released. It was just the start of a spectacular week of fishing and diving!
Ya gotta love this photo! Gerda Siewert from Anaheim CA gives and OK sign as she peeks out from behind Captain Blas holding two slug bull dorado taken out of La Paz. Gerda was on her first trip and over several days of fishing outfished many of the veterans!
He came a long way for this. All the way from Montana, Mike Harvey finally put the bend on a few roosters fishing out’ve Las Arenas. Mike’s coming back in September. The fish was released.
Big smiles for Diego Jimenez, retired firefighter from Colorado, fishing with Captain Chito who had a banner day on the dorado fishing north of La Paz towards Punta Mejia. “We had two and three fish on at the same time!” said Diego. “I would have been happy with 1 or 2. What a fun time!”
Utah in the house! Kip and Sue Slaugh spent the week with us and it’s always good to see them from Salt Lake City area. Check out the nice bull. After 6 days of fishing, they and their family went home with 125 pounds of fillets!
Our amigo from Sacramento, Jim Klein, got his first sailfish this week. Both sailfish and marlin showed alot more interest and we hooked and released several every day. Jim said he’s going to fire up his smoker and get the teriyaki brine ready!
Nice colors! A flat sea and a big colorful fish on the gaff for Makani Fisher from Salt Lake City. Makani and his dad fished 3 days with us.
A happy fella! Doc Norm Harris from Santa Ana CA got his first roosterfish out of Las Arenas and the smile shows! The fish was released.
Frequent visitor and fisherman with Tailhunter is actor and TV show host, Rick Kasper. Rick always does well and knows how to pose with a fish also showing off two of his bull dorado while on the beach at Balandra.
One of the few bright spots from Las Arenas this week that wasn’t a roosterfish, Tom Radoumis from Wyoming with Captain Archangel holds up a quality bull dorado to start off his fishing week.
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
Check out Jim Talley’s release of a fat striped marlin with an assist from Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Jim was fishing south of Ceerralvo Island.
JUNE SLIDES OUT WITH BEST DORADO FISHING OF THE SEASON!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 24 to July 1, 2012
With temperatures up to the low 100’s this week the fishing hit the red as well! We just had the best dorado fishing week of the season. Waters finally warmed up, cleared up, and shaped up and the dorado came to chew!
The first two days of the week I was a little worried. Winds came up and the nice dorado bite that started last week seemed to waiver. Oh no, I thought. Not again just as we were kicking it into gear! So, those first day days we scratched for 2-4 dorado per day with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Then, the winds died down…and the ocean blew up on us!
That area north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island and then towards the north end of Cerralvo Island and around Punta Mejia , Coyotes and Las Cruces erupted in limites of dorado each day. Guys were getteing 10-20 hookups per panga; losing many and releasing many more! The larger fish kicked in at 20-45 pounds each with captains telling me larger bulls were lost or just humiliated some anglers after long battles. This is finally the kind of fishing we’ve been waiting for.
As well, marlin and sailfish kicked it up a notch as well with several being hooked and either lost or released each day plus we had one day around Cerralvo where the wahoo decided to join the party.
Our pangas out’ve Las Arenas, were still scratching for fish unfortunately, but there’s roosterfish up to 60 pounds to be had and there were two small jags of tuna out on the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island. Not enough action to get too excited about yet, but we’ll keep an eye out for it!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
It’s been a long time since we had a nice dorado bite as we waited for waters to clear up and get warmer! It’s about time! Dorado finally kicked it into gear! Our buddy, Len Atkinson from the Sacramento CA area hasn’t visited us in a few seasons but good to have him back as he and Captain Marcos try not to get their shins slapped by a struggling big bull dorado!
TUNA? Yes! Mary Wehner always seems to do well. She and husband, Dave, went just east of Cerralvo Island with Captain Victor and found a couple of big dorado as well as this nice slugger yellowfin tuna! Everything just seemed to finally get better about mid-week!
Early in the week, with waters still on the chilly side, we had another run of nice yellowtail around Espirito Santo Island. Check out this trophy held by Joel Ofrancia who visited us from Washington to get some sun, fishing and diving. He caught 5 of these beauties!
Talk about a fishing vacation! Larry Watkins from Los Angeles decided to go “all in” and spend two whole weeks with us to get get ONE ROOSTERFISH! Well, he picked a good time because the roosterfish were tearing it up and he got this this colorful rooster just off Cerralvo Island. Some days the boats averaged 4-8 roosters per day in the 20-60 pound class. Almost all fish, including this one were released.
Tbis is Gerda Siewart from Anaheim CA with Captain Gerardo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Gerda had never been fishing before. She was also nervous because she just had surgery last week. But she went out anyway…and had a blast! She says she’s hooked. First day 7 roosterfish. 2nd day 5 roosterfish. 3rd day big yellowtail and cabrilla. 4th day a box full of dorado. She just let the captains fish and said, “Let’s have some fun!” She’s never stopped smiling the whole time! This was the only rooster she couldn’t release.
Cameron Hutcheson from Orange Co, CA is another of our clients who had a great time on their first trip…roosterfish…yellowtail…dorado! All of them were on their list they were hoping to catch. Cam holds up a big bull dorado he caught north of La Paz!
It’s a long way from Michigan to La Paz! But check out this trophy bull dorado that Jim de Boer holds on the beach at Balandra. It was great to finally see some of the larger models decide to bite and we’re happy that Jim came all this way and was able to get into quality fish. He also got his first roosterfish as well!
I gottta hand it to Mike Harvey who lives in Montana. This guy busted his butt all week trying to get a roosterfish…even fishing from the beaches at night. He finally got one on his third day. In fact, he got several plus got a nice load of dorado as well when the bite turned on mid-week. Mike’s posing with this sizeable rooster right off the lighthouse at Las Arenas. Mike’s already got reservations to come back in September “when the fish are bigger!”
Marlin finally got a bit more active as well this week. We’ve been seeing them for week turn up their noses at us. Guy Petree and his buddy Oscar hold up a fish they got north of La Paz. They released the marlin after the photo. Guy is coming back later this week for more fishing!
The man behind the fish is Brian Hutcheson! He’s from Cote de Caza CA and on his first day popped this nice rooster off of Cerralvo Island. First time fishing with us, he had a banner 3 days of fishing.
Monster yellowtail for Dr. Norm Harris who gets a hand from Captain “Fettucine” Alfredo off Espiritu Santo Island. Great catch! Doc is from Santa Ana CA
BEST WEEK OF FISHING TO KICK INTO SUMMER! IT’S ABOUT TIME!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-24, 2012
It was like night and day in the difference between fishing early compared to later in the week. For 2 months, I kept saying that all we needed was a little kick in water temperature and the tough fishing would improve. Well, the water temps went up by 2 degrees this week into the low 80’s.
By the same token…it was THE BEST WEEK of the SEASON on so many levels! Still not quite up to standards, but what a difference in this week compared to the last few months! We still need to get better, but just take a look at the variety of species in the photos!
It was like someone threw light switch! The first day of summer…June 22nd…everything changed!
Early in the week, with waters still a bit chilly, our bite consisted of a very good roosterfish bite with fish between 20 and 60 pounds. Great fun but not very good eating. As well we had a pretty sweet bite of 20-40 pound yellowtail off the west end of Espiritu Santo Island. That was good for a few days and we had some fun.
But about mid-week waters started warming. We were seeing more marlin. We started seeing breezing schools of dorado. Everyone was excited. Just one problem…they wouldn’t eat. Not even remotely interested in biting! So frustrating to see so many dorado and they just had no interest in biting.
Then, about Thursday the water temps kicked up a notch. The dirty green cold water started to dissipate and BOOM! Dorado started slamming! It was like someone threw a swtich. Some of the dorado were real punk squirt fish, but others were in the 20-40 pound class and larger fish were lost. As well, marlin started to jump into the act as well as sailfish and each day we hooked, lost , caught and released several.
Not everyone caught fish everyday. Some boats did great some days then not so good the next. Also anglers lost a lot of fish as well. However, for those who fished a few days, there were definitely fish to catch and opportunities to put fish in the boat compared to what it’s been lately. All very encouraging!
Hope this is something we can finally count on. The bite has been a long time coming after a really slow spring bite.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Tailhunter Fish Report 