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Posts Tagged ‘wahoo’

While it wasn't the best week for fishing, especially early when weather was a factor, it wasn't too bad either once the weather settled. Fortunately, early in the week we didn't have alot of anglers. However, good friends like Mark Martis did get into some nice sierra and good-grade dorado like this one fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet out've Muertos Bay.

We got rain and strong winds early in the week that actually caused minor flooding in town but once things settled down and for anyone still willing to get out in the breeze, dorado are still out there. Coral Ogden hangs onto a good bull dorado she caught north of La Paz near the island on a strip of bonito.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Alot of folks have asked to see some of the footage from the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot from last week that both Jill and I worked at.   It’s finally been edited and posted on youtube.  Check out Jill doing interviews and if you look real closely at the shots around the weigh-scale, I’m the guy in my fishing straw hat with the tank-top!  It was another fun time:

http://youtu.be/_j_Eov4C-PE

EARLY WEEK RAIN AND STRONG WINDS TURN UP THE WATERS WHILE FISH WAIT!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 13-20, 2011

Earlier in the week it was a good thing we didn’t have any fishermen out.  Not only was it extremely windy, but we got hit with several brief but really strong rain storms.  One was so strong it tore the docks completely out of their pilings at one place in La Paz.  They weren’t long, but really violent rains that we call “toritos” (little bulls) that are really unusual for this time of year.  But, like I said, glad we didn’t have fishermen out and it was nice to sit indoors and watch the weather pass through.   Even after the rains, the water was really turned over and muddy as well so it took a day or two to settle down.

 

However, once it did, we found dorado outside at the buoys just out of Bahia de Los Muertos with some nice fish around 15-20 pounds.  One later-season sailfish and marlin were also hooked.  Some private boats found quite a few schools of dorado outside at the 88 (but waters were rough) and there were reports of breezing tuna (moving too fast) at the south end of Cerralvo Island. 

 

North of La Paz, there are still some spots east of Espiritu Santo Island kicking out sporadic dorado as well with some nicer bulls to 30 pounds. 

 

Mostly, however, with the winds and erratic weather changing the scenery, the inshore fishing is where most of the focus has been.  Sierra are getting thicker off the beaches and reefs and we’re seeing more pargo and cabrilla action as well as some scattered schools of smaller roosters.  With the sierra, you could pick-pick-pick through the day and get a handful or if you hit the right spot, you could get several dozen hook ups.  They can get really thick and great fun on lighter tackle.  Also, excellent eating.  Don’t let anyone fool you with the name “sierra mackeral.”  These taste nothing like mackeral!  On the contrary, sierra make some of the best ceviche and cooked up, the silky delicate meat is like mild wahoo!

THANK YOU!!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe, happy and peaceful Thanksgiving week with each other and your families.  Doing what we do, so many great folks pass through our lives and we’re blessed and grateful  to be able to call so many of you  our friends and extended family and Tailhunter “tribal members!”  You make it all fun and worthwhile.  God bless you all!

 

Enjoy your week!  That’s our story.

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

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

.

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

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

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

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It was all about the winds this week. When the winds laid down, there was some pretty decent dorado fishing like this one that Richard Ogden got out of La Paz

There were a few days this week when it wasn't exactly sunny, as we had some cloudy days, but it was perfect weather minus the wind for lots of sierra for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets.

It's late in the season, but there's still some nice dorado to be had around Las Arenas and Cerralvo Island like this one held by Rich McClanahan. One other thing...you pretty much have the whole ocean to yourself these days!

IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE WIND NOT THE MOON THIS WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 6-13, 2011

Very slow week of fishing.  I thought it was a combination of the full moon plus the strong northerly winds that even forced the port captain to close La Paz boat traffic for part of a day.  The old double whammy.  It was really scratch fishing.  Some dorado.  A few sierra.  But for the most part, it was a real stretch to get fish.

 

Then the winds stopped.   And we a had a few days of only light breezes…

What a difference!

 We still had a full moon.  But suddenly we got some breaks in the wind and the fish came to eat!  All of a sudden, we got limits or near limits of sierra and dorado with both our Las Arenas and our Tailhunter Fleets.  Some of the sierra were nice grade 3-6 pounders.  The dorado were likewise some nice bulls up to about 25 pounds.

 Inshore up tight over the reefs and outcrops, we got some really nice action on pargo, cabrilla and roosterfish as well. 

So, although I was about to say we’ve turned the corner and are officially in “winter fishing” hold everything!  Maybe we can squeeze out a few more weeks of fishing out’ve this season because just as we were typing this up, we got some reports from commercial pangeros that there were still some marlin, sailfish and tuna lurking.  So…fingers crossed!

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

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Late in the season is a good time to chase the bigger bull dorado we see here in La Paz. What we might lack in quantity with fewer small fish is made up for with larger trophies like these two that Rich Ogden from Morro Bay CA got fishing with Captain Chito north of La Paz.

I don't know how much longer the tuna will be around as waters cool, but both the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island are still producing fish between 25 and 80 pounds although it's getting a big bumpy and windy out there! Our good friends, John and Dolores Ehlers came out from Colorado to spend a week with us and got into some nice fish like those they pose with here at Muertos Bay.

From Utah, Justin and Jarron Cozad had some nice days on the water with us including a good day chasing the dorado around Espiritu Santo Island. Here's two of their catch. That's La Paz in the background.

After several trips to La Paz, Coral Ogden from Durango, CO put her biggest dorado in the boat and had "her best day fishing" with a solid day of big dorado. She was fishing live bait on the west side of Espirito Santo Island.

Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet bends to get out of the way of the photo with Justin Cozad holding up another nice yellowfin tuna. Check the flat waters! They were fishing the ridge south of Cerralvo Island chunking drifted dead sardines.

It's been an unusually productive last few weeks on striped marlin and especially sailfish which we usually see in the spring and early summer. For whatever reason, we seem to be hooking quite a few sails which are a nice bonus for many anglers who have never hooked a billfish. Most of them are getting released or breaking off on light tackle. John Ehlers battled this estimated 150 pound sail for 3 hours...his first! This is a BIG sail. They were not able to release it and the meat was donated.

IT’S GETTING COOLER AND WINDIER AS CROWDS THIN BUT FISH STILL BITE!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, 2011

It wasn’t a bad week of fishing.  It was a really good week for fishing down here.  It’s just that there weren’t alot of fishermen.  So, overall, the counts might not look that good, but it’s deceiving because there’s just not that many folks fishing this past week!  Almost like clockwork, November hits and I think folks are already gearing up for the holidays.  There’s a bit of a lull in anglers coming to town.  However, those that showed up were treated to finding themselves often the only folks on the hot spots and cooperative fish willing to bite!

 

For our Las Arenas fleet, the tuna are still there.  Both north and south Cerralvo gave up some nice fish with some fish in the 50-60 pound class found at the north end of the island, but a long way to run from Bahia de Los Muertos where our pangas are beached these days.  However, if you were looking for quality, that’s where you had to go.  The south end of the island that has been a hot spot for the last several weeks still kicked out the 25-40 pounders…a real nice grade of yellowfin and usually about the size that most can handle without busting a back, gut, or fishing rod! 

 

Again, we’re using fresh dead sardines for bait and drifting over the spots.  The biggest problem has been a sealion or two that continues to pester and bogart many of the fish that are hooked up.  Nothing like watching the big dog take a big tuna right off your line that you’ve been fighting for an hour and leave you with only a head as it swims away and then teases you by tossing the carcass back and forth in front of you!  Grrrrrr….

 

Legally, we can’ t do anything, but some anglers have found that when they see the sealion approach they put their reel into free-spool and at least give their tuna a fighting chance to dive down and escape.  It seems to work about 1/2 the time. 

 

As well for our Las Arenas anglers, they’re still finding those big roosters, a nice smattering of late-season sailfish and marlin plus an increasing number of sierra, pargo and cabrilla.

 

For our La Paz anglers, those fishing north from the city near Espiritu Santo Island are still finding a good quality dorado with some really exceptional bulls being taken up to about 30-40 pounds.  Live sardines, caballito and strips of dead bonito are working best.  Don’t be surprised either by big sailfish and marlin still moving in the warm waters.  Inside the bay where waters are cooling, more and more sierra are being caught.

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

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

.

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

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


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

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Dennis Fuji from Sacramento brought his group of 14 to visit us this week. Although the tuna were sometimes hit-or-miss, the gang did get into some nice fish on two days plus some great dorado fishing. Here's Dennis with 3 of the guys standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. The fish were found near the S. end of Cerralvo Island.

Characteristic of late fall fishing, many of the dorado were sizeable bulls between 30 and 40 pounds! Eric McClanahan had a banner day off the charts with a day full of bulls like this fishing north of La Paz with his son (see other photos below).

I gotta hand it to these guys (L-R) Mike Cutchin, Bob McPhee, Dan McPhee, Josh Charleton from Napa CA went out on one of the roughest days we've had in awhile. Some of the guys got more than a big queasy, but they hung in there. Caught some fish. Came back to shore to get their sea-legs and went right back out to fish s'more! They're showing off their yellowfin tuna here!

Our good friend, Jeff Sakuda, has come down more times than he and I can count. Sometimes he comes down 3 times a year and always does well...except this past week. Just one of those things. The tuna were elusive, but Jeff still got into some nice snapper, pargo and cabrilla to take home. More reef fish are showing up in the counts as we transition towards winter fishing and cooler waters.

Most of us tend to think the big pargo are only around in the cooler waters of the spring, but there's some resident fish hanging out in the reefs like this one caught by Rich McClanahan and his dad Eric near Cerralvo Island. The nice thing about it is that this time of year, virtually NO ONE if fishing for them!

Dave Combes and Mel Uchida pose with some of their yellowfin tuna taken late in the week with us. The bite was often early and furious then tapered as the winds and sealion made things difficult. So...early to the bite!

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Just click the link! 

Tailhunter International Fishing Clips from Week of Oct. 22-30, 2011

TUNA PLAY GAMES AS DO THE WINDS BUT DORADO AND OTHER SPECIES HELP OUT!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 22-30, 2011


It was a bit of an up-and-down week around La Paz waters. Clearly things are changing as water temperatures, water conditions, winds and currents all seem to reflect that the seasons are in transition.  One day, the tuna bite at Las Arenas would be hot, but the next day, it would go completely down the tubes.  The next day, the dorado bite for our La Paz boats would be on fire and the next day, the guys would have to scratch for fish to fill the fish boxes.

 

Most of the tuna were nice grade.  They were 25-35 pounders.  The dorado were ranging in size from smaller schoolers of 10 pounds, but some really nice fish in the 30-40 pound class were taken every day. 

 

But things are changing…no doubt…

 

…it was clear that things are changing by the varieties of species that were caught.  Along with dorado and tuna, there were marlin and sailfish hooked; roosterfish that were still prowling the shallows; pargo starting to bite again; plus sierra inshore in the cooler waters and more cabrilla (seabass ) in the counts as well. 

 

Mostly, things were great.  If anglers were spending two or three days with us, they went home with a nice load of fish.  If they had one bad day, they usually made up for it on the other days.  I imagine if the winds pick up consistently, the warm water species will soon be replaced by more inshore varieties.

 

One thing…it’s really pleasant in town right now. Air temps about 75-85 degrees most days, but the mornings can be chilly (by our standards!). If you’re going fishing, bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt that you can always take off later when it warms up!

 

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

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Although the main focus has been on the tuna and dorado bite, roosterfish are still around and are a great trophy catch. Trudy wanted one of these and got it just off the Las Arenas lighthouse which is a world-reknowned "roosterfish alley." The pretty fish took a live sardine and was quickly released after the photo.

Our Sacramento amigo, Wade Gomes, comes to visit us yearly and shows off one of the nicer dorado we've been getting with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. The bite was a little stickier this week than normal, but schools of dorado are definitely around and the bite got better as the week went on.

Shane Grove from Utah gets a special mention. Y'know some guys will wear our Tailhunter t-shirt. Some sport our Tailhunter stickers. Take a look at the inset photo. Shane went and got our Tailhunter logo tatooed on his shoulder! This so rocks! Thanks, Fish Brother. Oh...nice dorado too!

Our yellowfin tuna at Las Arenas were better than last week when we had the full moon, but still not exactly wide open on the bite. Our pangas averaged 1-5 tuna per boat and the bite was late in the day. Fish went 20-30 pounds on the average like the nice trio of tuna caught by our buddy, Leif Dover, who came ovef from Hong Kong where he works. This was his 2nd trip to see us in two months! He's an animal fisherman!

Over the last few weeks, the ladies have really been doing well. Marsha Barnett, on her first trip to La Paz, spent 3 days catching dorado like these. She's holding this one after her first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

Another of our lady anglers who had a banner week, Kathy Terbu, from Utah pulled this nice bull out of the waters west of Espiritu Santo Island. The bite for our La Paz fleet was a little off but dorado got hungier as the week went on.

Johnny Terbu had a banner week of fishing and snorkeling with us and all the while kept his flyrod handy just-in-case. On his last day, the dorado boiled up all around the boat and he was able to get in some casts hooking up on dorado like this one in the channel between Cerralvo Island and Las Cruces. Here's what John said: " Awesome trip! Best day we had was 13 Dorado! Done by 12:00 noon. Also, got the 1 tuna I wanted. Even got one onthe fly rod! 12 wt. isn't big enough. Go big or stay home.Can't wait til next trip. Thanks so much for a wonderful trip and condo!"

POST – FULL MOON BITE IMPROVES WITH BETTER DORADO AND TUNA FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2009

It wasn’t the best of weeks for fishing, but it was certainly better than the week before when we had the full moon playing games with us.  It was still scratchy fishing but the fish were more cooperative to a degree.  But, we still had to work hard for them.  Things were compounded by the fact that many days the bite was late in the day.  So, sometimes guys would get out to the spot and sit there…and sit there…and sit there…and work the area with their captain.

 

There’s only so much patience.  And, in some cases, they’d get the captains to leave the spot and go hunt for roosterfish or cabrilla or some other species.  Those boats that stuck around would suddenly get rewards with biters of tuna or dorado.  It’s just a matter of knowing when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.  Of course, being fish…sometimes sitting at one spot didn’t do much good either and the guys who pulled off found some action.

 

Anyway, for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, tuna were the center stage again.  Fish were a bit larger this week.  Most fish were in the  20-25 pound class, which is a real bull for alot of folks, but there were others in the 30-40 pound class and some larger that anglers never saw and busted off.   If you count up 1-5 tuna per boat/day then add in a few dorado and about 20 bonito and the occasional roosterfish, it’s an arm-tiring day especially in some cases where all the pandemonimium doesn’t even start until late in the day!

 

For our La Paz fleet, well, the dorado continue to be good to us and honestly, the mahi are our bread-and-butter-fish.  All summer we could count on them to bend the rods and fill the ice chests.  This week, they were a little more reluctant.  Not so crazy, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in quality.  Quite a few fish were in that nice grade 30-40 to pound size!  So, one or two fish could stuff a fish box very easily and it wasn’t unusual to see big tails sticking out of the fix boxes because the whole fish wouldn’t fit with the lids on.

 

Knock on wood, we did dodge hurricane Hillary that kept our attention most of the week and had us answering phone calls and e-mails from clients wondering if they should still come down.  I don’t want to spit in the face of the weather-gods but Hillary fizzled and we didn’t even get any strong winds or storms.  We were pretty happy about that, needless to say.  We still have to keep an eye on the weather as we wind down the season, but it’s clear that fall is coming.  Shadows are longer.  It’s a tad cooler.  A bit breezier.  We hope the fish keep biting.

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

 

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First timer to La Paz, Bob Chadwick holds up a couple of his nice tuna typical of the fish we were getting this week with our Tailhunter Las Arenas flight. While not crazy biting, the fish were definitely "on-the-chew" better than the week before when a full moon seemed to keep the bite down. Bob's biggest fish here weighed 38 pounds.

Our amigo, Ken Gragg, has made three trips to fish with us this year...and the year's not done yet! He's given a hand here by Captain Victor to hoist up a big-boy bull dorado estimated at about 45-pounds.

Here's the end-result of man vs. sealion. Although the tuna came back nicely this week, it seemed that at least 1 out of 3 fish hooked was lost to a big dog sealion that parked itself in the middle of the schools and had a field-day munching hooked fish to the frustration of many of our anglers. Sealions aren't usually a problem, but this week this one pesky butthead couldn't seem to get enough as shown by Ken's "big catch."

Three days fishing with us for Ron and Lenora Kellogg resulted in a handful of tuna and dorado to bring home. These were caught their first day out with us fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

We had alot of great couples visit us this week. Kim and Matt Hoey pose with some of their catch after their first of 3 days fishing with us. Kimber has a dorado. Matt hoists a 25 pound tuna.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Well, as mentioned, I dropped my regular video cam into the water on the beach last week so this week I had to use my backup cam.  The shots are shakier than I would have liked, but you get the idea!  Click and enjoy some of the highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqHA9t18fq8

FULL MOON LEAVES AND FISH GET A BIT HUNGRIER AGAIN

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 18-25, 2011

We recovered nicely after the full moon last week.  The further we got away from it, the better we seemed to do.  It wasn’t a full recovery given what we did BEFORE the full moon, but we were definitely back on the fish bite.

 

For our Las Arenas boats, the tuna came back nicely.  They were squirrelly at times with the bite taking off early one day then very very late the next day.  Another time, they would eat only small sardines fished live and the next day they would only eat dead sardines chummed in the water.  Another day, they would eat only slow trolled sardines or larger caballitos.  Talk about picky!  The secret was just hanging in there and keep trying a bunch of things until something worked.  Also, it meant working through several dozen bites of big feisty bonito that would tear things up.  Some days, our pangas would get 2-4 (20-40 pounders)  tuna but would also nail several dozen bonito too which meant for a really tiring day!  Lots of smiles most days.

 

I guess the biggest of problems was the monster that becomes the scourge of fishermen all over.  There was one rat bastard sealion that planted itself right in the middle of the tuna school all week.  You would think the thing would be gorged after taking about 20-40 percent of all the tuna hooked…that’s alot of tuna…but every day, it was right there again torturing us!  We usually don’t have sealion problems, but this week we sure did.  Guys were doing all kinds of thing.  They were putting out dummy lines.  They were heaving dead bonito at it (mostly to no effect except straining some arm muscles) and also throwing the occasional sinker at it…also to no effect.  The best was my suggestion to two of our guys to get the hottest habanero sauce they could find and fill a dead bonito with it.  Then toss it at the sealion. 

 

They did it and said the sealion went right for it and gulped it down then came up barking like it’s mouth was on fire!  It swam away to bother a different boat!

 

Anyway, the tuna seem to be back and with it there was also a decent bite of dorado as well as roosterfish and finally someone hooked a wahoo…maybe the 5th or 6th we’ve had all year in what has been a pretty sour year for wahoo. 

 

For our La Paz fleet, again, the further we got from the full moon, the better.  Limits or near limits was usually the case with decent 10-20 pound fish the norm and mostly found on the west side of Espiritu Santo Island.  The bite could be early and then everyone comes home or, on some days, it was sparse pickings until fish exploded late in the day.

One note…this time of year the heat (combined with humidity) can be really incredible.  Most of us are used to it, but we can’t stress enough about drinking liquids, especially water.  Sorry, beer and margaritas don’t count!  You can’t drink enough water here, especially when you’re on the water fishing.  The heat literally sucks the moisture from your body.  We’ve had several people feel the ills of heat stroke…headache, chills…almost like the flu. Fixed ’em up with Gatorades, water and just getting in a cooler environment.  But just a heads up that it’s important to keep hydrated!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

Read Full Post »

Retired fire captain, Jesse Franco, shows off one of the type of yellowfin tuna typical of what we were catching this week off Las Arenas. The bite seemed to have suffered this past week during the full moon. Fish averaged about 20-35 pounds most days. Jess got this one on live bait just off from Punta Arenas.

It would seem to be too warm for amberjack, but several large ones were hooked this week. Amberjack are the good eating big boy cousins to yellowtail and we normally see them around late spring and early summer when conditions are cooler. However, Fabio Caldron was fishing with our amigo, Hawk Davis off Cerralvo Island when he roped this big beast estimated at 50-60 pounds or larger!

Lisa Ogle...first timer on the ocean...from Oregon probably caught the largest tuna of the week...estimated at 70 pounds by our Captain Victor. She just didn't have a camera to take a photo of it! So, you get her 2nd best tuna! We enjoy showing- off the ladies and especially when they're first timers! She and her husband Brian, a hunting guide, also got into a big day of dorado.

Dean Francoeur and Jeff Lipp hold up a couple of their yellowfin at Las Arenas. Some of the problem with the tuna may have been the difficulty in catching bait. Some days the fish bit early and other days, the tuna waiting until the last minute to bite. Dean's fish went 27 pounds on the scale.

More like it. Greg Marsalla took one of our super pangas north outta La Paz as he only had one day to fish and probably had one of the better days this week with three of them on the boat taking some quality dorado.

John "JD" Drucker makes it down every year to visit us...sometimes twice a year...when he can get away from work and always does pretty well on the fishing. He's holding one of his Las Arenas yellowfin tuna here on the beach.

Jeff Sweet fished with first-timer Greg Landerer and got 4 nice yellowfin tuna for their efforts their first day. Largest fish was 24 pounds.

Our buddy from Washington, Mike Whitlow, celebrating his birthday for an entire week in Mexico, posted up with this quality yellowfin tuna he caught fishing with Captain Adolfo.

VIDEO CLIPS OF THE WEEK!!

Sorry…no video clips this week.  FUMBLE FINGERS ME…I dropped my video cam in the water!  What a doofus. I was taking some shots and had removed the waterproof housing so that I could get better audio.   It slipped out’ve my hands.   It’s fried.    First time in all these years here that I’ve ever dropped a camera in the water.  Of course, it happens to be the ONLY camera I have that is NOT waterproof.

FULL MOON MAKES FOR A STICKY BITE BUT TUNA AND DORADO STILL ACTIVE…SORT OF…!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 11-18, 2011

Some great photos this week and if you just looked at the photos, you might be inclined to say that we had a pretty nifty week of fishing.  But….hold on…in all honesty….There was a noticeable drop off in the good tuna bite that went off last week off Punta Arenas and South Cerralvo Island. 

Not sure if it was the full moon or the scarcity of bait, but things were definitely off.  Our pangas averaged only 1-4 tuna in the 20-30 pound class although we did hit a fewer in the 40-60 pound class.  They were few and far between.  Compared to last week when 5-10 tuna in the 40-50 pound class was more the norm. 

 

But everywhere this week the bite seemed to have dropped off…even for our La Paz fleet.  Everyone got fish but it was more of a picky bite.  Excluding what you may or may not believe about a full-moon affecting things, conditions seemed good except for one thing…the bait!  It was harder to get.

 

For our Las Arenas fleet, our normally good sardine areas held few or only tiny sardines which meant some days we had to jig for caballitos.  Or, we had to go way up the east side of Cerralvo Island to find sufficient sardine supplies.  For our La Paz fleet it was also a struggle to get bait. We got the bait, but some days it took alot longer to get enough to head out.

 

Still, we did get some good dorado this week with our La Paz fleet doing better than our Las Arenas fleet. But it could be like pulling teeth at times.  Imagine some of your favorite captains…all stars like Chito, Raul, Boli, Pancho, Jorge, Victor… and others getting only 1 or 2 fish!  That’s unheard of!  Wow!  But then the boat right next to a hot boat could get 10 fish!  Crazy.

Some good roosterfishing, sailfish and marlin bites too.  Will see what happens as we move away from this full moon. 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

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Kristen Barnard from El Segundo CA was on her first trip to Baja and went fishing with Uncle Joe Barnard from Honolulu HI when they tagged into this pair of nice dorado near the Las Arenas lighthouse.

Our amiga, Marianne Sugawara visits us about 2-3 times a year and always fishes with Captain Jorge. It usually pays off like with this nice bull dorado taken south of Bahia de los Muertos!

The Kodama Men...Dad (Curtis) with Daniel and Darin...were on their first trip to visit us in La Paz and put some nice dorado in the box after their first day.

Definitely a good week for the ladies! Kelly, Kristen and Kathy Barnard pose with some of their Las Arenas catch of dorado.

It was another great week for roosterfishing off our beaches...largest being a 60-pounder and almost all of them were released. Dr. Al Yu took this one near Punta Perrico with Captain Adolfo looking on and the fish was released.

Quite a few of our clients had a blast by going to light tackle and working the inshore structure like Jeff Sakuda and Mark Aizawa who used spinning rods and flyrods to nail cabrilla, pargo and roosterfish like these!

Steve and Shirley Erquhart live in the mountains of California's Sierra Nevada off-the-grid in a log cabin he built by hand in the forrest, but came to see us and did well after 3 days of dorado fishing showing off a trio of bulls they took fishing north of La Paz.

Fred Li, had a great mix of fishing working Espiritu Santo Island where he went to knock out some pargo and cabrilla along the rocks. He did great, but then this nice 22-pound bull dorado came swimming into the shallows and ate his sardine too!

They called it a "man-cation" this year for their La Paz trip. JR Nojadera came with his dad, Al, Jordan Richards and Dennis Cudal to swing on some fish and did well on the dorado, but probably had their best time taking out the fish along the inshore waters of Ceralvo Island with roosterfish, cabrilla, and pargo like these!

WEEKLY TAILHUNTER VIDEO CLIP

Click the link to check out the weekly video clip:

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

DORADO KEEP IT STEADY AS FULL MOON PULLS UP

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 7-14, 2011

There was no shortage of fish if you wanted to catch dorado.  For both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet, the dorado were again the center of attention and made up more than 90 percent of the catch.  There seem to be so many spots where the dorado are congregating some of the anglers were laughingly getting tired of finding dorado everywhere they looked. 

 

Some days were better than others, but overall, there were limits or near limits of dorado almost every day.  The only issue was whether the fish would be caught 1-by-1 over the fishing day or whether it was going to be slow all day topped off by explosion of finding a hungry school and the ensuing madness as every rod  got bent!

 

Most of the fish were in the smaller 10 pound class, but there were a few larger in the 20-30 pound class.  Larger baits usually drew the larger fish.   It was good to hear that many of the anglers either dropped to lighter tackle or else catching and releasing so many of the smaller fish or realizing they had so many fish already in the freezer they released ALL their fish.  A few of the guys even took the hooks off their surface lures just to watch the dorado slam the lures and take off with the lures only to let go and have another dorado pick it right up! 

 

For other species, there were a few marlin and sails hooked and busted off.  Roosterfishing could be as frantic as the dorado if you got into the school-sized fish.  One group of our anglers threw Shimano wax wing lures all day-long and hooked rooster and after rooster but said with bait they could have been bent on every cast.  Largest rooster of the week was a 60 pound fish taken by Tom Barnard who revived the fish and released it.

 

No tuna to speak of. They popped up here and there then moved off faster then we could chase ’em.  No wahoo either.

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

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

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

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


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

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Big league bull dorado for Mike Rossi of Santa Ana who got this big guy to chomp a live sardine near Las Arenas. It was a decent week for dorado fishing for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet.

That's an armful! One of the largest fish of the week taken by first-timer Mike Ehrlinger, from Orange Co. CA. He took this huge bulll...his first fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

It's great to see first timers kick butt like Mac Oudin shown with Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Mac go this first dorado; his first sailfish (40 miinute fight and he released it!) and this beautiful roosterfish that he also released. Great sportsmanship, Mac! Gracias!

Here's another good sport. Bill Hughes really wanted a roosterfish this trip (his 2nd to see us), and he tried repeatedly to revive this one (he wasn't even trying to catch a rooster at the time, but it bit the lure in deep water and they thought it was a sailfish! Most roosters are caught in shallow water.). They repeatedly tried to "swim" the big fish back and forth but were unable to revive it. But, a great catch and the folks on the beach gladly accepted the gift of the fish for making machaca and soup.

Alex Gragg (middle) has been chomping at the bit for years, but his dad, Ken, who comes down several times a year told him he had to wait until he was 12-years-old to come to La Paz. So, he finally made it! Shown here with older brother, Steve, and Tailhunter Capt. Boli, they pose with some of their dorado from a good day of fishing!

It seems we have alot of great roosterfish stories this week. Harlie Deckhard from Arizona had hooked up to this big roosterfish off Las Arenas when the reel seized up and was ready to snap the line. Quick-thinking Captain Pancho grabbed another rod and while holding both lines, cut the line hooked to the fish and in the heat-of-battle, quickly spliced on the 2nd rod-and-reel and the fight continued! Great story. Great fish...which Harlie released after the photo!

It wasn't a big week for yellowfin tuna, but every few days the fish popped up. Most were like these held by Mike Ehlinger, Bernard Jain and Joe Fuschetti on Las Arenas beach. Note the other fish on the sand.

That's Rick Gil del Monte goofing in the back of Dave and Paul Henke holding up a few of their dorado they caught after 3 days fishing with our Tailhutner Las Arenas fleet.

It's a long way and a big difference between Baja and the Arctic Circle, but that's where Lisa and Colby lives but came down where she got this trophy bull dorado fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

It's good to get a little help from your friends...especially when it's your birday! Mike Demple from AZ, celebrated his big day by zooming down to La Paz on a private plane with friends for a single day of fishing...just long enough to get a load of dorado like this one Mike holds with the help of Captain Boli from the Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.

This is about as good a representation of some of the many species you can catch in a single day right now. Jon Dunn, Captain Pancho, and Mike Rossi pose with a day's catch of tuna, dorado, barred pargo, triggerfish among others!

TAILHUNTER VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Got some great images to show you this week!

Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjgXShzWWoM

DORADO CENTER STAGE FOR THE WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2011

It was one of those good-steady weeks of fishing down here around La Paz. Not off-the-charts, but fun solid fishing with good weather and some of the best ocean we’ve seen in awhile. Dorado were the main attraction with about 80 percent of the catch for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleet…albeit moreso for our La Paz anglers.

If all you really wanted to do was hang some fish; have some fun; put some fillets in the ice chest, then the “no-” was to just go fish for dorado. Slow troll some sardines in an area; find some floating weeds; or look for circling birds is pretty much how to swing it, but fast trolling with feathers or slow dragging some dead bonito strips also set off the bite. Most days the boats caught dorado as small as 5 pounders and as large as 40 pounders mostly but the majority of the fish were 10-15 pound school-sized fish. The larger fish continue to be taken by our La Paz fleet.

If you wanted a bit more variety, then fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet was probably better. Dorado bite was OK at best with smaller schoolies, but at least you also had the opportunity to get into some of the good roosterfish, marlin, sailfish and the occasional elusive tuna.

Oh…a sighting of wahoo…two bites this week, but for the most part, no wahoo to speak of. I think this has been one of the poorest wahoo seasons I can remember. But, prime time wahoo season is still to come possibly…October and November! We’ll keep you posted!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

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

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

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With a solid week of dorado fishing, it was a good spot for first timers to get either their first dorado or their biggest dorado. In some cases, it was BOTH. Jason Westra and captain Chito from the Tailhunter Fleet show off Jason's huge bull dorado taken near Espirito Santo Island. Rough seas left from missed hurricane Dora didn't slow down the dorado bite...much, but it was bumpy and windy many days.

All the way from Clovis, New Mexico, our amigo Dougie Idsinga was another of our anglers who got a personal best dorado! Check out the size. Doug's standing in Balandra Bay north of La Paz.

It wasn't a bad week for tuna, especially for our Las Arenas fishers with the bite being best at mid-week for football-sized tuna between 10-30 pounds like this one by my amigo, outdoor writer, editor and book author, Zack Thomas who came out from Arkansas. That's the tip of Cerralvo Island on the right side of the photos. Most of the tuna fishing has been taking place closer to the island now rather than running out to the 88.

Lots of amigos from all over visiting us these days. Neal Thomas all the way from New York on the left and Evan Cascio from Manhattan Beach on the right only had one day to fish with us on a quick run to La Paz, but made the most of it with a good day of dorado fishing.

This was a week when it seemed like about half the states in the U.S. were represented fishing with us...Alaska, Washington, Georgia, Texas, Utah, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Arkansas...just to name a few! Well, Miles Brown here is from Oregon and he and his dad got into some of the yellowfin tuna that bit this week for our Las Arenas fishermen.

This dorado is alot bigger than it looks because Wes Simpson from Atlanta GA, is about 6'4" tall. Wes and his amigos fished for an entire week straight hardcore.

Sam Sybesma from Long Beach CA took home a full ice chest of fillets after 3 days of fishing including this big bull dorado he's holding up after a day of fishing with our La Paz Fleet.

Another good example of the dorado bite we had this past week is Don Rea from Ventura fishing with his mom and dad for a week with us who had some banner days pulling on the dorado schools!

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Click this and watch Jason Westra’s reaction to pulling in his first and biggest bull dorado:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKpvA81Ar8Y&feature=player_embedded

DORADO COME ON STRONG IN AFTERMATH OF DORA’s WINDS

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 24-31, 2011

It was a solid dorado week here in La Paz, but in all honesty, a strange strange fishing week. We dodged getting punched in the face by Hurricane Dora that came up the coast, but then veered outside with barely a cloud in the sky! But, it still left some residual effects Despite blazing hot sunshine and warm waters, it was windy enough most of the week for us to think it was spring. Winds were among the strongest we’ve seen in many a summer. It made for some unusually rough water and bouncy days not to mention uncomfortable fishing at times (mostly the winds died by noon)…but..

Thankfully the fish still bit!

For the most part, the dorado saved the week with dorado being the mainstay catch for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets. There were some nice-sized fish also in the 30-50 pound class that turned out to be personal bests for the successful anglers, but most of the fish were in the 10-15 pound category with the occasional 20-25 pounder in the box. The fish are scattered all over. There are a number of “hot” spots that seem to hold concentrations of dorado but there’s also free-swimmers all over. Many times, the key is finding a fish willing to bite either on a slow troll or on a high spot or weed or current line then, while that fish is still on the line, toss some chum and see what else comes up. Maybe nothing. But maybe another 3, 4 , 5 or the whole school! Then, it’s hold onto your socks!

As for tuna, again up-and-down, but this past week, it was a little more up than down. No big boys, but quite a few 10 pound footballs…maybe 3-8 tuna per panga with our Las Arenas fleet. The fish are much closer near the island and high spots without having to run out to the 88 bank. Live bait and chunked dead bait work in bringing up the schools but a few guys got the schools going by trolling cedar plugs (natura color) that either hooked up to tuna or produced a dorado.

The rest of the catch was rounded out by some marlin and sailfish (most released) and quite a few fun roosterfish in the 10-20 pound class that was a great find for our flyfishers and light tackle fishers that worked Cerralvo Island this past week. No shortage of action!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

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

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:

https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

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

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

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