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Posts Tagged ‘wahoo’

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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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Rooster Dover tags 4-13

We’ve finally had a good appearance of roosterfish, the kind that made Las Arenas the “roosterfish capital of the world.” The fish have been 10-50 pounders and right near the beach. Check out Leif Dover’s big pez gallo taken right off the sand near the Arenas lighthouse. Leif got several of these and released all of them. We encourage releasing the roosters…great exotic fighters, but don’t taste very good and most guys voluntarily are voluntarily releasing them although you’re allowed to keep them. It’s good to see them getting released.

pompano tags jp perkin 5-13

Super photo of another member of the jack family…related to yellowtail, amberjack, jack crevalle…this big pompano was hooked by our amigo of many years, JP Perkin, who used to own a famous tackle store on the Santa Barbar pier in California but now lives in Florida and came to spend a few weeks in La Paz with us. These make incredible eating…and especially sashime! Almost better than yellowtail!

Wayne yellowtail tags

Yellowtail still biting, especially north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island. They’re diminishing as the waters are warming but some of the one’s we’re getting are still 20-40 pound fish like this nice one that Wayne and Captain Rogelio are showing off here.

Jerry Sylvia 5-13 pompano tags

Jerry Sylvia holds the tail gaff on another sweet-sized pompano. The fish have moved in the last few weeks but I can’t remember seeing so many larger ones caught as we have this year. Jerry came to visit us from Santa Barbara CA

Amberjack 2-Dover 5-13-tags

This is the time of year…late spring…when these big slugs show up. The Mexican name for them is “Pez Fuerte” (amberjack). They are horses and they are the bigger cousins of yellowtail and roosterfish and THEY TASTE GREAT!!! These fish get up over 100 pounds. Leif Dover had a pretty epic week on these all the way from Georgia. This big guy was probably over 50 pounds!

WARM AND COLD WATER SPECIES MIX IT UP FOR THE WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 28- May 5, 2013

It wasn’t a bad week of fishing, but it was’t a great week of fishing either.  There was certainly a lot of action in terms of getting rods bent, but just not a lot of quality fish that came up.  But, also some of that had to do with the type of fish that were getting hooked as well.

Like I said, there was some fairly decent action as we had good numbers of pargo, cabrilla, sierra, pompano and bonito ripping around.  Great great fun on light tackle.  Some dorado were also showing up to 25 pounds.  And there’s rooster fish up to 40 pounds plus jack crevalle in the same area.  So, some great varieties!

But, in terms of quality, we just didn’t see much.  But then again, the “quality” fish were the type that have a lot going for them…like ROCKS!

We did get yellowtail again.  Fewer, but many of those busted guys off in the rocks, but we still showed some in the 20-30 pound class.  The best area has been the east side of Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz.  That’s an area where there’s still a big body of cooler water according to the satellite images of the water temperatures.  As well, their bruiser cousins, the amberjack also made a great showing with fish up to 60 pounds, but again, it’s a lot  harder to put a 60 pound fish in the boat than a 10 pound fish and although guys were hooking them, they mostly broke off.  Same for the larger pargo and cabrilla.  If you can’t get them out’ve the rocks, the overall fish counts don’t look very good.  Good fishing.  Bad catching.

Waters are in that transition mode and passing through a warming phase so we’re expecting to go from cooler water to warmer water species any week now.  There’s some good fingers of warm water and sargasso is starting to build up in the channels which bodes well for dorado season coming 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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Bill Fong Yellowtail tags 4-13

Despite warming waters, there’s still some yellowtail around especially around Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz where Bill Fong from the Sacramento area go this hefty forktail.

wahoo tags beach 4-13

We have taken more wahoo in the last 2 months than we’ve taken in the last two years! First timer and fishing only ONE day, Randy got these two 20-30 pound class wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

DENNIS FUJII TAGS YELLOWTAIL ALFREDO 4-13

These are what we all “firecracker yellowtail.” There seems to be nice schools of this fun-sized ‘tails in various places available to both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. Dennis Fujii and Captain Alfredo pose with a nice schoolie.

cabrilla faron tags 4-13

Another of our Canadian friends, Faron Kilber, poses with the nice-grade of cabrilla that are biting in the rocky areas right now. Our largest this week was about a 25-pound pig!

WATERS WARMING BRINGS FISHING VARIETY

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 21-28, 2013

It was an up-and-down week of fishing with more of those pesky winds some days and then flat calm waters in between plus maybe a tad of full-moon thrown in.  Most days, however, were gorgeous, but big swells generated from the south still made it a bit bumpy even with other conditions were super.

The result was a week of fishing as variable as the weather.  Again, it’s “transition” time between colder and warmer fishing seasons so we had changes in water plus about that many different types of fish as well.

One day all the fish seemed to be inshore fish.  The next day the off-shore fish were lock jawed and only the blue water species bit.  Other days it was a mad mix of a little of this…a little of that.  I counted 15 different species of fish caught last week between our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

With the offshore stuff, we again got into a few wahoo that were in the 20-40 pound class and a few large tuna were hooked (and lost) that were estimated in the 60-80 pound category.  As well, we’re starting to see a few billfish again and several were hooked (and also lost on light tackle, but a nice thrill just the same for a while when they were hooked).

Inshore, there’s been a lot of activity.  Pargo continue to torment the anglers with only about 2 or 3 put in the boat for every 10 hooked.  That’s just the way it is!  These are tough exciting fish, but their first move is right to the rocks so they have the “edge” in more ways than one!  If you look our our daily scores, in fact, it seems like fishing has really been bad some days, but then talking to the captains or the clients, you find out they lost 2, 3, 4…6 fish to breakoffs or errors!

Same for the yellowtail.  There’s still some nice YT’s around, but not as much as last month as we are no transitioning to warmer water conditions.  The size has also varied.  We’re getting some as small as 5 pound firecracker yellowtail up to about 30-40 pound sluggers.  Best areas are around the islands especially northern Cerralvo and the west side of Espirito Santo Island.

In those same areas, we’ve been hooking some really nice fat cabrilla (Mexican sea bass) up to about 25 pounds and even some small grouper.

Along the beaches, we saw an increase in the number of hooked rooster fish and jack crevalle running up to about 30 pounds and the waters are still cool enough for the guys to be hooking a handful of sierra each day, not counting the bite-offs.

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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

There’s still some big slug yellowtail north of La Paz where the waters are cooler. The fish are varying in size from 5 pounders to larger 20, 30 and 40 pound models like this great fish taken by our amigo, Grant Darby from Washington with a live mackerel and the photo assist from Captain Alfredo.

Becky rogelio tags cabrilla 4-13

Even if live bait is available, one of the most effective methods of working the reefs and rocks with slow trolled crank baits like the one hanging out of the mouth of this nice cabrilla. Becky Solee from Tigard OR and her husband, Bob, are frequent visitors to us in La Paz and own B & B Custom Fishing Rods. Becky us using one of their popular custom-made “Chix Sticks” and she poses with Captain Rogelio.

sierra verda tags 4-13

Our amiga, Verda Boyd, usually visits us in December and she catches…sierra! She came to visit us in April and she caught…MORE sierra! She’s holding a nice pair here while standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Take a look at this monster African pompano! It’s the largest any of us have ever seen taken in all these years and it was caught by Faron Kilber from Canada on his first trip to check out the fishing with us in La Paz. This fish was so big, we actually ran to check the IGFA record books.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

You can tell it’s a bit chilly by the way even Captain Afredo is dressed along with Carol Darby…and she’s from Washington and used to chillier temps! But when it’s windy it’s good to have a jacket! Carol stuck it to this fat yellowtail off Espirito Santo Island.

alex tags yellowtail 4-13 two

When it’s one of your first fish ever and your first time visiting La Paz and first time fishing on the ocean, it’s a good day to smile! Alex Babadzhanov is originally from Russia but living in Seattle a the moment for work and got into some nice yellowtail as well! He says he’s now hooked on Mexico and fishing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Another illustration of the variety of fish right now…take a look at Pete Benneke’s pair of dorado. Normally warm water fish! Pete’s from Canada and the dorado usually start to move in this time of year but we don’t see numbers until the waters warm up. However we did get a big 40 pounder late in the week!

 

WIND DICTATES FISHING (and there was alot of wind this week!)

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

A scattered week of fishing dictated pretty much by what the wind does and this week it was pretty windy.  When the winds aren’t blowing, we’ve got dorado, a smattering of tuna, yellowtail, jack crevalle, rooster fish, pargo and cabrilla all in the mix.

But, when then the winds blow, as they do this time of year when we transition between cooler and warmer weather plus we’re affected by all the cold weather in the U.S., all we can do is either move days of fishing or find spots where the winds aren’t blowing as much.  Often that involves hugging the reefs and shorelines or ducking into coves to find fish.  It’s not all bad, as there are still bunches of yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, jacks, and sierra in the spots.

This week was probably a perfect example of this “transition time.”

There’s a whole bunch of variables at play.  At the end of last week, the winds started to diminish and fishing reflected that with an upswing in yellowtail, sierra and other species.  But, even as the winds died, the warming of the waters brought with it an algae bloom turning waters green mixed with the cooler waters brought up from the deep channels by the winds and there wasn’t a lot swimming around in the dark green.  But, if you found the clearer waters that were blue, there were all kinds of things swimming and willing to bite a line!  Finding the area was the key.

Then, mid-week the winds kicked up again and it was just as well to put your feet in the sand and watch the world go by from the beach.  Not worth fishing.  Too many waves.  Too much rough water.  No bait.

By the weekend, the winds came down again, but we had to wait a few days for the green water to clear and sure enough, the pargo, cabrilla, dorado, yellowtail and other species started biting.  By the time you’re reading this, we’ll be into another “cycle” again.  That’s the way it is this time of year.  On the good side…there’s sure a lot of different species biting.  I counted 15 different species last week!  But with each passing week, the waters get a little warmer…the the winds drop down an little more…And fishing gets better!

That’s our story!

Jonathan

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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

wahoo bruce bob patterson tags 4-13

REAL FISH!!! The REAL THING! Big wahoo for Bruce Dodge (estimated 60 pounder) and Bob Patterson with a nice one of his own taken at the south end of Cerralvo Island in the best wahoo bite we’ve seen in 2 years with wahoo free-swimming around the pangas!

tuna ken gragg 4-13 tags

It was a great week of firsts for us…first dorado of the season…first roosterfish of the season…best wahoo in two years…and the first tuna of the season including this great thumper of a 50-60 pound class yellowfin. Ken Gragg, our amigo, spent 90 minutes dueling this guy on 30 pound test!

Dale van Dellen and Don Goglia pargo 4-13

This was also our first real pargo bite as well! Check out these tasty hard-fighting pargo liso (mullet snapper) by Dale Van Dellen and Don Goglia. The fish are spawning in the shallow high spots .

Ed Flannigan tags 4-13 wahoo

Brian Davis…all the way out from Louisiana hangs ’em high with this speedy wahoo that ate a trolled Rapala near Cerralvo Island.

pargo hank fiola cal lambert tags 4-13

Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Fleet helps with the photo op with this trophy pargo mulato (barred pargo) with the great colors with Chuck (sorry Hank!)  Fiola and Cal Lambert from the Yakima, Washington area.

cabrilla  Aaron Karina Dowd 4-13

Aaron and Karina Dowd are from Australia on a 6-month “walkabout” around the world and stopped for a few days in La Paz and took in a day of fishing scoring a number of nice cabrilla like these!

Gavin Boli yellowtail 4-13

San Francisco in the house with Gavin Chun and Captain Boli from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet holding a pair or yellowtail taken off Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz. Everyone’s wondering if the ‘tails will stick around now that the waters are warming. However, Gavin and his 2 brothers went home with well over 140 pounds of fillets!

Brown wahoo 4-13  tags

Two of our all-time favorite guys who visit us several times a year, Rod Brown (L) from Alaska and brother Jeff Brown (R) from Minnesota flank Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet holding Jeff’s 40 pound class wahoo that sort of kicked off the latest wahoo run this week that just exploded!

wahoo dave fudurich 4-13 tags

Two fisted ‘hoo! Double wahoo day …really incredible…for Dave Fudurich who was trying to land one on a flyrod. But he’ll take these without argument! He’s on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

yellowtail garbuz tags 4-13

Bob Gurbuz has visited us a number of times, but this time brought his dad, Orhan (Left) and nephew, Dan Boyd (right) and went north of La Paz and got into a nice jag of yellowtail.

rooster James Chun tags 4-13

Big smiles fishing around Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz where schools of roosterfish started coming on big time this past week and James Chun from San Francisco got this one before releasing it.

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His 2nd trip with us pays off for Brian Davis from Louisiana who checked back to the beach and got into the wahoo bite with a sweet wahoo…these fish are capable of speeds of 70 mph! Like tying your rod to a car on the freeway!

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The clients didn’t want to pose with Captain Beto (thanks for the photo, Hawk!) and two yellowfin tuna estimated at 80 pounds! The tuna are there if you can snake a bait through the schools of bonito!

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Three days of fishing and a cooler full of wahoo for Bob Fudurich who took several wahoo with his son plus big yellowtail fishing with both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets.

BEST WAHOO BITE IN SEVERAL YEARS PLUS FIRST TUNA DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH BITES OF THE YEAR!

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

Crazy crazy week!  It started with some of the best yellowtail action we’ve ever seen in a long long time and as the yellowtail petered out, it turned into the best wahoo bite we’ve seen in two seasons!

I’m not sure where to start. At the beginning of the week the yellowtail were crashing the boats at north Cerralvo Island as well as north of Espirito Santo at the El Bajo seamount.  Anglers were getting anywhere from 3-10 big yellowtail and telling tales of many more fish that they just couldn’t stop or just didn’t have the experience to put the wood to them. These fish were all slugger 20-40 pounders with reports of a few fish moving towards the 50 pound notch!

Then, it was almost like someone threw a switch and we had about 2 days of so-so fishing and it was almost like the stage was getting cleared for a new act!

Because when the curtain came up later in the week.  It literally exploded.  Not only were we taking pargo, cabrilla and sierra as well as all the bonito we could as for but suddenly we BLEW UP the wahoo!

We’ve had terrible wahoo fishing the last two season.  Literally, the worst fishing for the skinnies that I’ve seen in almost two decades here.  But late in the week we had free-swimmers around our pangas and our guys reporting hooking (and in most cases losing) 2, 3, 4 wahoo each as the speedsters busted lures and sheared lines.  Still, some pangas got 1 or 2 to the panga and in that period we caught more wahoo the last 3 days of the week than we had in the previous two years.  Guys came back talking about fish free-swimming around the panga while they fought others plus others they would get right to the panga then having the fish bust off!

These were nice fish…most in the 20-30 pound class ,but several in the 50-60 pound trophy range that had big shoulders and thick guts!

But, on top of that…it’s April…we had big brick tuna pop into the fray crashing around the pangas and blowing out of the water.  These were nice grade fish ranging from 50-100 pounders and if you could get through the schools of ravaging bonito, there were thick fat tuna waiting to inhale!

It looks like things are warming up and with the warming waters, maybe we’re seeing the last of the yellowtail, but with wahoo, tuna and dorado taking their place far earlier than we’re used to seeing them in the year, not too many complaints!

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 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Big yellowtail in the 30-pound class again provided super action all week for our anglers including John Cavellini who fished with Captain Victor near Cerralvo Island and shows off his first-ever forkie yellowtail!

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Rack of fat yellowtail headed for the fillet knife and the freezer. Racks like this were not uncommon catches this week.

WARM WEATHER LOW WINDS MAKE FOR SOLID YELLOWTAIL BITE AGAIN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 17-24, 2013

It was another very good week for weather with temperatures surprisingly warm for spring in the mid to high 80’s and winds giving us a break which meant good conditions for more yellowtail which did not disappoint.

Again, fishing around Cerralvo Island, especially the north and east sides of the island, as one angler put it, “There’s so much mackerel in the water, the waters are thick with them!”  This is like candy in the water for yellowtail and sure enough we averaged 2-6 big yellowtail up to about 35 pounds this week…a real healthy grade of fish.  Quite a few others were lost.

Check out some video of  Greg Hunley battling a big yellowtail.  Check out how close to shore we are with Cerralvo Island in the distance and how calm the waters are!  https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=d8a4dfbefd40a051&id=D8A4DFBEFD40A051%21238&Bsrc=SkyMail&Bpub=SDX.SkyDrive&authkey=!ALT32fTppT8gO_c

The fish were eating live mackerel as well as casted iron in blue and white as well as scrambled-egg patterns on the fast retrieve.  Slow trolled yo-zuri magnums were also effective and similarly produced some pargo and cabrilla in the same areas.

We also had (sorry I don’t have a photo), but a wahoo exceeding 100 pound was also taken in the middle of the yellowtail bites when the big fish was seen free-swimming next to one of the pangas and the quickly tied on some wire with a hooked mackerel and pitched it at the lazy wahoo.  The big wahoo took the bait and fish on!  Hopefully, I’ll get a photo of it for next time!

Conditions seemed to be clearing all over which is a great sign.  My captains scouting north of La Paz tell me the green cooler waters are getting better and yellowtail started to rise around El Bajo Seamount!

In addition, we also got some pargo, cabrilla and sierra close to shore!

COMING HOME…THANKS TO ALL!

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After 3 months on the road and about 15,000 miles of driving, we’re finally coming home!  We’ve had a grand grand time!  We kicked it off in early January and drove from San Diego to the ISE show in Sacramento…then cross the plains and Rockies to Denver…Seattle (Puyallup)…Portland…Yakima…Phoenix…Boise…Long Beach…Salt Lake City…San Diego!   Wow!  Ten shows in 11 weeks!

We’ve criss-crossed the western U.S. up and down and back and forth at the biggest and best fishing and hunting shows around and talked to so many great folks and seen so much of this great country.  The best part was all the laughs, smiles and hospitality of so many of our old amigos and new amigos to be and talking about all the great fishing in La Paz.  It’s also great to see and share the road and shows with all our friends in the industry…many of whom we only get to see once a year.  We’ve had a blast and we want to say a big MUCHAS GRACIAS to everyone and GRACIAS A DIOS for keeping us safe on the roads and to God bless you all for a great year and season.  TAILHUNTER folks are the best!

Now..back to La Paz and let’s go fishing!

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: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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Hawk Yellowtai 1-proc

Our good friend, “Hawk” Davis, was able to sqeeze out some days on the fishing grounds in between wind to get in on the yellowtail bite we got this week!

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Whale watching in Bahia Magdalena is going on full-swing right now in the bay’s shallow warm waters where the grey whales spend the winter. It’s a great experience and we’ll be running trips through March! Ask us!

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We just finished our 4th Tailhunter Show of the season at the Portland Expo Center for a great show where thouands of folks showed up for one of the largest fishing and hunting shows on the west coast! We talked to hundreds of folks each day and got great visits from so many local friends like Amy and Belmond Mann who brought the family to say hi to us! This week we head to the Yakima Sun Dome in Yakima WA for the 24th Annual Central Washington Sportsmans Show from Feb. 15-17th. Come say hi and talk to us about your 2013 La Paz fishing trip!

YELLOWTAIL HIGHLIGHT WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 3-10, 2013

Late week, winds finally settled down enough to make it comfortable to fish.  Earlier during the week, seasonal winds made it just too crazy for us to really put folks out on the water.  Many folks this time of year, aren’t hardcore anglers and are often folks just in town looking for a day on the water so it’s often best just to just keep an eye on the weather so that we can put them out when it’s calmest and they can enjoy themselves and get some action.  Honest, though, it it weren’t for the winds, it’s really pretty nice in La Paz with daytime temps in the mid-70’s and being in town is really enjoyable right now.  Oh, and carnaval started this week too so town is hopping and it goes on through next week!

Anyway, time on the water was productive with a nice variety of fish and some solid action.

The appearance of yellowtail again was the most welcome part of the bite.  These were some nice fish that ran 15-35 pounds!  Real slugger toads with maybe even some larger fish breaking off as they often head right back to structure and the rocks.  As I mentioned, many folks aren’t big time anglers, and when some of these freight trains hit, you don’t get a second chance to figure out what to do or make mistakes.

This is the same for the larger cabrilla as well as the pargo.  First thing they want to do is head for home in the rocks and that’s often not very deep.  So, there’s not much margin for error.  When a huge pargo, hits if you’re still fiddling with which way on the fishing rod is up, you’re toast!  I mean, that’s part of the fun.  But, it’s not like a tuna or dorado which might have a hundred feet or so of water beneath it to run or wants to rip off 300 yards of line on the uptake.  Yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla and other “rock fish” can often be in water that’s only 10 feet deep and dotted with reef and rocks!  So any hesitation and the fish simply busts you off!

So, often counts would be better except that fish are getting lost.

That being said, we did get some nice yellowtail mixed with smaller cabrilla, pargo, sierra along the beaches and good numbers of bonito which provide great action.

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: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.” 

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JUREL EN BOCA DEL ALAMO 2013 yellowtail tags copy

We finally got a nice jag of yellowtail! Our ‘mano, Jorge Romero, owner of Tecolote Transportation in La Paz only had enough time to go out for 2 hours and hit 3 nice fork tail on live mackeral just south of Bahia de Los Muertos in front of Boca de Alama. Jorge told us, that no one else was even around as this is off-season!

Leya Dang dorado tags 1

Not bad for winter fishing! But, yes, we’ve still got dorado running around our waters surprisingly like this nice dorado that first-timer Liya Deng put in the panga fishing with Captain Victor of our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. The fish was taken just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

Kamon pargo 12-12 tags

Chris Kamon of Los Angeles really wanted to get into pargo and we hadn’t gotten into too many…up to now, but Chris persisted and was rewarded with a couple of really nice pargo liso (mullet snapper) off the south end of Cerralvo Island. It appears that the much -sought snapper have moved into the shallow waters early to spawn which is a good sign!

Jason Gail Day2 Catch

One of the funnest light-tackle fish to catch right now are the numerous sierra that are in the shallow waters just off the beach. Gail and Jason Jacobs show off a double pair here on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. They also got yellowtail, dorado, roosterfish and wahoo!

SLOW START HEATS UP TO SURPRISE VARIETY FISHING!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, 2013

It was an interesting week of fishing.  At first we thought it would pretty tough.  Early weather predictions showed a week filled with strong winds as well as a chance of rain for several days.  However, as we hit into the week, the rains dissipated and the winds diminished sufficiently to get out on the waters.
As has been in the past, when the winds let us out, the fish bit!  And again, what a variety!
All of our fishing has been off the Muertos Bay Area SE of La Paz where we can at least fish closer to shore and have some protections from the northern winds.  So, we really have not had to go out far most of the times.  Certainly never out of sight of land!
Once again, we got into some decent quality-sized dorado in the 10-20 pounds class.  Roosterfish up to 25 pounds.  Decent numbers of sierra as well which were often taken to our Tailhunter Restaurant and showed up as ceviche for our clients!
But the most interesting news was the solid appearance of pargo liso off the south end of Cerralvo Island.  These are the carp-like looking mullet snapper much craved by our anglers for their fighting ability as well as great eating fare!  Fish up to about 20 pounds were caught, but several larger fish were lost.  This is the time of year when the fish come into the shallow rocky areas to spawn so this could be the start of an early spawn!
As well, we started hooking yellowtail as well.  We got a little smattering just before Christmas but this past week, it would appear the fish are here and ready to go.  We’re fishing just south of Bahia de Los Muertos off the shallow area in front of Boca de Alamo.  Using green mackerel for bait, the yellowtail were quality 15-25 pound fish.  The neat thing so far…at least until word gets out…is that barely anyone is fishing the area!

ANNUAL WHALE MIGRATION HAS STARTED!

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The yearly migration of the grey whales has started with the incredible animals just starting to show up in Bahia Magdalena after their trip all the way from the Bering Sea.  It’s the longest migration of any of earth’s creatures and the whales will be in the warm shallow waters of the bay from January to March with February being prime time.  We’re just starting to book our trips for this season so if you’d like to experience this once-in-a-lifetime-event, get in touch with us and find out the details.  Great experience for the whole family!

Tailhunter 2013 Tour

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We’re on the road again for our 17th year and headed your way.  This week, we’ll be at the Sacramento International Sportsman’s Expo taking place at the California State Fairgrounds from Thursday to Sunday.  We’ll be in our booth ready to see all our friends and clients and ready to get you set up for your La Paz fishing trip in 2013.  Come by to say hi and pick up a copy of our 24 page Tailhunter brochure and DVD!  We’re looking forward to seeing you!

That’s our story!

Jonathan & Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.comMexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htmTailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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It’s the dead of winter and dorado are still biting! In between the winter winds, we still have quality fishing including bull dorado and other blue water species! Check this gorgeous bull in full color lit up just next to the panga.

Jason Jacobs wahoo 12-12 tags

Surprisingly some of the best wahoo fishing of the year the last few weeks! Take a look at this awesome wahoo that Jason Jacobs from Phoenix AZ pulled out during two days of fishing. Hefty ‘hoo!

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I have already had several folks ask me if we took a fiberglass fish mount off the wall for this photo because of the incredible colors! This is as good a shot as it gets and Adam Smith and Captain Jorge pose it well. That’s Bahia de los Muertos in the background. Check out the calm waters. They didn’t have to go too far off the beach for this nice mahi mahi.  Adam was visiting us from Arizona.

Jason Jacobs with Yellowtail tags 12-12 1

First real yellowtail of the season! Wow…big fork tail and hamachi for the grill. Jason’s got big smiles for this slug fish caught off Las Arenas. Hope this is an indication of a good yellowtail season if fish this big are already moving in!

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It’s not snowing and he’s got a t-shirt on! All the way from Alaska, Tim Bowman, was fishing just off Bahia de los Muertos in great conditions when he hooked this nice bull dorado on live bait.

Gail Pancho with Wahoo tags 12-12 2

Hard to believe we’re getting this kind of quality fish so late in the season, but even Gail Jacobs pulled a wahoo out with help from Captain Pancho just off Isla Cerralvo. She also got dorado and sierra!

SURPRISE FISHING WHEN WINDS AREN’T BLOWING!  (…but the wind blows a lot!)

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 23-30, 2012

We had a much better week of fishing this past week mainly because we had much better luck with the winds.  This is, of course, that time of year when winds can get howling and it’s almost pointless to be out there and get bounced around in a panga.

Lots of snow-birds in town who decide they want to do a day of fishing and we often have to steer them to different days or postpone their trips when the winds come up.  Sometimes, we just tell them, it’s better not to fish at all unfortunately.

What they don’t understand often is that even if the Bay of La Paz is calm, outside, it can often be treacherously rough and getting to the fishing grounds is almost futile.  Even other times when it’s a little calmer, you still have to go find bait or the bait man has to have bait available to sell.  If the waters are too rough, bait will be hard to obtain because the rough waters prevent anyone from getting to the areas where the sardines are holding.

Even other times when it seems relatively calm, there can be big swells that make it uncomfortable and dangerous.  In fact, this coming week doesn’t look very promising!  Pretty much if there’s storms in the western U.S. then Baja and the Sea of Cortez is very often affected by windy conditions.

So, this past week, we actually got a few days where the winds layed down  enough for us to fish!  Sure enough, the fish bit.

Sierra are almost a sure thing with some really quality grade sierra up to 4-6 pounds evident along the shorelines where the bottom starts to drop off.  Even on the windier days, the fact that the sierra are so close to shore is a bonus as we don’t have to go out so far.

Inshore also, we’re surprisingly still getting rooster fish up to about 10 pounds which can be fun.  We even had some flyfishers able to throw at roosters this past week.  Pargo and cabrilla are also in the mix.

But, without having to go too much further out, we also got into some nice grade dorado in the 10-20 pound class which normally aren’t around in December.  No one complained.  The fish were school-sized, but I have a feeling some of the larger bulls are still around as we got into some 40 pounders less than 2 weeks ago.

In addition to the surprising dorado, we’re still finding the occasional wahoo and billfish too, but I can tell waters are finally cooling off as some husky stray yellowtail up to 25 pounds have found their way into the fish counts as well.  Hopefully, finding yellowtail of this grade is a good sign for the coming season and these are the vanguard of large fish moving into our waters.

As for the wahoo…who knows?  There’s a smattering of wahoo in several areas and it’s like hitting a lottery ticket when we hook them. Or at least like finding a 20 dollar bill in your pants pocket you didn’t expect!    No one is expecting them, but boy, what nice fish!  Hopefully, they’ll stick around awhile longer.  There’s not much traffic out there now that it’s off-season and we’re finding the fish off Cerralvo Island as well as Punta Perico.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL

Mexico office: 755 Obregon, La Paz, BCS, Mexico
Phone: 612-12-53311U.S. Office: P.O. Box 1149, Alpine CA  91903-1149
Phone: 626-278-1585 or 626-333-3355

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