Posts Tagged ‘whalewatch’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Jan. 18-25, 2015

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, catch-and-release, Cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, Chad Schearer, charters, circle hooks, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, dog tooth snapper, dorado, east cape, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito, espirito santo island, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, girls fishing, gray whales, grouper, holidays, Hotel Perla, idaho sportsman show, IGFA, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, mag bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea of cortez, Shoot Straight TV, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, spearfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, Tournament fishing, travel, triple tail, tuna, Tuna tournament, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmans Show, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women fishing, Word Records, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged accommodations, amberjack, bahia, baja, bay, beach, billfish, blog, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, catch-and-release, Cerralvo, certified scale, charter, children, deep sea, discount, dorado, east cape, el sargento, espirito santo, family, fish, fishing, flyfishing, fred hall, freediving, girl, grey whales, guide, holiday, hotel, IGFA, images, inshore, instructions, ISE, isla, island, jack crevalle, jillene roldan, jilly roldan, jonathan roldan, kayak, kids, La Ventana, Las Arenas, light tackle, los barriles, mahi mahi, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos, northwest sportsmans show, offshore, outfitter, package, paddleboard, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo, reports, roosterfish, roosterfish foundation, sailfish, san jose del cabo, scuba, sea of cortez, sealion, sealions, sierra, snapper, spearfishing, sportfishing, suenos, swimming, tailhunter international, techniques, tips, trip, trolling, tuna, vacation, video, wahoo, whales, whalesharks, whalewatch, wife, world record, yellowtail on January 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

She’s one of the best! Donna Thompson gets our first yellowtail of the season putting the wood to two nice yellowtail off Cerralvo Island with live bait.

Two more of our super amigos…from Bakersfield, California…Ken Gragg and Carl Lange put a handful of pargo and a cabrila in the boat fishing just outside of Bahia de los Muertos. These are tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks!

Captain Jorge and Richard Branson from Virgin Airlines? Nope…it’s our amigo, Rick Kasper who actually has been a double for Branson, but as an actor and host of his own outdoor TV show has also been a double for Gary Bussey. He’s also a fun fisherman! He’s showing off a dorado and a sierra here although they let a few get away!

YELLOWTAIL AND PARGO MAKE A SHOWING…SO DOES DRIZZLE AND RAIN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 18-25, 2015

The week started on some real high notes. Not only did we have some really fishing-condusive weather, but the fish decided to join in as well. However, as the week progressed, by the end of the week, not only did winter winds return, but we also got the surprise of rain which dampened things a bit. Fortunately, being the off-season, we didn’t have to cancel anyone’s fishing trips as they weren’t many folks fishing this week anyway.

However, let’s talk about fishing. The best news is that we finally got into yellowtail. The big fork tail jacks really laid low last year when El Nino conditions warmed the waters and made bait and the big fish a rarity. However, this week we took some nice quality-grade yellows around Cerralvo Island near the high spots both north and south ends with bait and iron with fish going 20-30 pounds. Some hefty hamachi! Hopefully, this is just the start of things to come.

The yellowtail require the cooler waters and normally, we don’t see many until about February or March. They stick around until about May when the waters start warming and we see the warm water species like dorado, billfish and wahoo move in. We barely had any yellowtail to speak of at all last year. We’re hopeful that the yellowtail we saw this week are the vanguard of a nice yellowtail season.

Another fish we really didn’t see last year were the pargo…the big snapper that come up in the springtime just like the yellowtail. These big red/ copper fish are powerful and in the spring come into the shallows to spawn. One of the most vicious fish to tangle with and a real frustrating game fish to put in the boat because of their power and the rock cover they love, we got a few of those this week as well. Most of the big ones get lost because they’re just rugged sluggers, but early in the week some 3-8 pounders came up (a good sized one is 15…a brute is 40!) so, like the yellowtail maybe this year we’ll get them back.

In addition to the yellowtail and the pargo, there were some dorado and sierra taken plus cabrilla.

Then, the wind came back up again from the north and as the weekend approached, skies got cloudy and a few days of rain hit us. As I’m writing this, we’re still looking at rain then it will let up next week and the forecast calls for some rain late in the week again as the month ends.

WHALES WATCHING ON BAHIA MAGDALENA GOING FULL

If you want to really do one of those “once-in-a-lifetime” things or check something off your “bucket list” our Bahia Magdalena Whale Watching is in full swing. The grey whales have come down from the Bering Sea in the longest migration of any animal on the planet. They showed up a bit early this year and we’re running daily trips to see them. They usually stay around until about mid-March and the bay is where they come to mate, give birth and basically hang out in the warm calm waters where we can get up close to them in their natural environment. If you’d like details get in touch with us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com or give us a call at 626-638-3383.

SPOTS FILLING FOR JUNE PANGA SLAM

We still have a few spots for our 2015 Tailhunter International / Western Outdoor News Panga Slam. With 3 days of fishing…a snorkel day party on the island…several fun dinners…a fishing jackpot and much more, this is one of the highlights of our season! We’re limiting it to only 24 spots and there’s just a few spots still left. We’ve love to have you join us! Write us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com for all the details!

THANKS WASHINGTON! NOW ONTO PORTLAND SPORTSMANS SHOW!

Our good friends, Dave Rose and his family dropped in to say hi and pose for a quick shot. Great family and they’ve visited us a number of times in La Paz. Great to see them.

Jilly working the counter at our booth at the Puyallup Fairgrounds in Washington.

Just a shout-out thank you to all our amigos who came to visit us at the Washington Sportsmans Show at the Seattle Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. After shows in Sacramento and Denver and about 3,000 miles of driving, this was our third show of the year and it was a great time. We saw so many of our friends and signed up lots of amigos for their 2015 fishing trips with Tailhunters in 2015. We now have a few days to catch up and re-group then hit our next show in Portland at the Portland Expo Center from Feb. 4th to 8th. If you’re in the Portland area, come see us and talk to us about fishing in La Paz! We’ll see you there.

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942

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 for Week of Dec. 21-28, 2014

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, catch-and-release, Cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, Chad Schearer, charters, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, dog tooth snapper, dorado, east cape, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito, espirito santo island, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, girls fishing, gray whales, grouper, holidays, IGFA, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, mag bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea of cortez, Shoot Straight TV, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, spearfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, Tournament fishing, travel, tuna, Tuna tournament, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women fishing, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged accommodations, amberjack, bahia, bahia madgalena, baja, bay, beach, best, billfish, bluewater, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, captains, catch-and-release, Cerralvo, certified scale, charter, child, children, cubera, day tour, day trip, deep sea, discount, dorado, east cape, eco tour, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito santo, family, fish, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, five-star, flyfishing, fred hall, freediving, girl, guide, holidays, hotels, IGFA, images, inshore, ISE, isla, island, jack crevalle, jillene roldan, jilly roldan, jonathan roldan, kayak, La Ventana, Las Arenas, leisure, light line, live bait, lodging, los barriles, lures, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos, number 1, offshore, outfitter, package, paddleboard, panga, pargo, photos, pompano, report, roosterfish, sailfish, saltwater, san jose del cabo, scuba, sea of cortez, sierra, snapper, snorkel, spearfishing, sportfishing, suenos, swim, tackle, tailhunter international, tailhunter restaurant, techniques, tips, top-rated, tournament, travel, trip, trip advisor, trolling, tuna, vacation, video, wahoo, western outdoor news, whalesharks, whalewatch, wife, world record, yellowtail on December 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Captain Pancho with a nice rack of sierra and a cabrilla.

Pretty typical inshore winter catch of some great eating, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.

Incredible day trips right now to swim in La Paz Bay with the whalesharks in the shallow waters! On any given day there are up to several dozen 10-15 foot “juveniles” in the bay.

Above or under the water, these gentle animals are a fantastic experience. This is about a 20 footer, feeding on the surface in only about 10 feet of water!

SUNS OUT BUT SO IS THE WIND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 21-28, 2014

The weather was tough on us this week. Quite a few windy days as is often the case during the winter months when the north winds come down and hit us and just make it difficult to get out or, even if we do, it’s just rugged out there or, the big waves make it tough to get bait. And that’s the way it was for the majority of the week.

I feel badly because most of the folks that fish this time of year are snow-birds just enjoying sunshine who want a day of fishing while in La Paz. This is unlike during the regular season when folks fish every single day of their vacation and are specifically in town to fish. For the folks now with only one day to fish, that means we either have to cancel; or they have to just gut-it-out and have a rough day; or we have to juggle their fishing days to find a day where the winds are diminished.

More often than not, we either have to tell folks who only have one specific day to fish that it’s best they not go out, or they go out and really just have a bad time and get beat up and wet and not catch much fish…and that’s not fun either.

On the other side, at least it’s sunny! Day time temps are in the low to mid-70’s and really pleasant. Although it was windy, winds should calm down by the time you’re reading this.

We did get out a few times this week. All of our fishing during the winter months are out’ve Las Arenas/ Bahia de Los Muertos areas. Because of the winds, waters are pretty turned over and green and dirty in some of our hot spots. However, we did get into some decent sierra along the beach drop-offs. Some were hefty 4-5 pound chunkers and ALWAYS great eating. There were a few small pargo, snapper and cabrilla caught. We had some school-sized rooster fish caught and released and the bonito helped provide some action as well.

As a side note, many folks don’t know that La Paz has become quite a mecca for whalesharks which have been increasing in numbers the last few season in La Paz Bay where they’re protected. At times there are 1/2 dozen to several dozen “juveniles” up to 15 feet long or more all in shallow water and great for snorkeling! We’re running 2-3 hour trips to swim with the whalesharks every day that the winds are favorable. The juveniles are just a few minutes away and it’s an incredible family once-in-a-lifetime experience. You are NOT allowed to touch or ride the animals but still…getting just a few feet away from these gentle animals (they are true sharks with no teeth that eat plankton, krill and other small critters) is something not to be missed.

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW! BRING ON 2015!

Well, 2014 is almost one for the books and I thought it would good to wrap up the year with a full review…

It was as crazy a year as I have ever had in my almost 20 years working here in La Paz.

With El Nino hovering, we entered the year with some trepidation. El Nino seems to have a zillion variables that change the whole complexion of fishing and sure enough, it started right from the get-go.

El Nino conditions are characterized by warmer than normal waters. Good in some ways, but bad in so many others. So, crazily, our waters never really did cool down. We started the year catching dorado which was a great surprise in some aspects, but the downside was not so good.

For one our cooler water species never really did show up. While the dorado were biting, we never got into the good yellowtail or the amberjack, sierra or pargo that are so popular in our cooler months. We got a few, but it had to be called a big disappointment. One aspect of the overly-warm water was the lack of bait.

yellowtail Tim Butterworth tags small 4-13

Tim Butterworth with a fat yellowtail caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

From Idaho taking a break from teaching school, Mandy Pollock let’s Tailhunter Capt. Boli struggle with this big yellowtail from the north side of La Paz. Still a few yellowtail around and this was Mandy’s first trip to La Paz.

Jorge Ramiro, everyone’s amigo, with two nice spring-time dorado which showed up early this year with the warm waters!

Baitfish require cooler waters so that nutrients come from the deep. The baitfish feed on the nutrients and without those necessities, bait either died off or moved away to find food. Insofar as we’re a live bait fishery and bait is an important aspect of our sportfishing, it makes it hard to fish, let alone catch fish without bait! This was to plague us throughout the year.

It didn’t help either that in the Bay of La Paz, bait catchers from the fish farms were scooping up what little bait was available, sometimes at night leaving virtually nothing for the sportfishing fleets and commercial local fishermen who rely on the bait to make their livings. It wasn’t until almost mid-year that the bait catching stopped. Surprisingly, our bait stocks suddenly increased!

But, bait was to be an issue all year long. We made do with what we could get. That often consisted of a mix of sardines, mackerel, caballitos, baby bonito, ballyhoo and dead bait like cut squid, cut bonito and the like.

It will produced some great catches throughout the year like the dorado, marlin, sailfish and some others. The most remarkable catches of the year were the rooster fish and wahoo. We had an above average year for rooster fish underscoring La Paz’s reputation as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World” with fish in the 30-80 pound class not uncommon.

Kacie and Captain Armando put this nice big rooster in the boat for a photo then quickly released it!

Captain Jorge and our buddy, Rick Kasper, always has the knack for big fish like this world-class huge roosterfish caught just off the shallow beach near the Las Arenas lighthouse then released.

From Louisiana, Brian Davis stuck his giant roosterfish with Captain Pancho that might have tipped the scales into the triple digits, but was gratefully released.

As for wahoo, the cycle came around this year. After a few years of negligible wahoo to show, we had a fairly outstanding year for wahoo with fish in the 30-50 pound class and larger often taken and the best spots around Espirito Santo Island. For folks who had never caught a wahoo or rooster, this was the kind of year where many anglers finally got their first of each species, sometimes on the same day.

Lots of amigos got their first wahoos this year like Rich Pomeroy from Northern California who was on his first trip to La Paz.

Big wahoo like this one caught by Kris Honkola were a great catch this year in 2014

The biggest issue of our year was the weather. It played havoc all year.

As is characteristic of El Nino years, storms are more common and we gritted our teeth and watched hurricanes and rainstorms threaten us and sometimes drop some rain on us and stormy conditions. We have over a dozen come our way, but dodged almost all of them until the big one finally turned on us in a surprise of historic proportions.

Hurricane Odile slammed into Baja with winds up to 150 miles per hour. It turned out to be the biggest hurricane in Baja history causing widespread devastation. La Paz was in it’s path and, although the fury of the storm was spent in about 6 hours, the destruction and aftermath were felt for weeks and La Paz and Baja are still in the rebuilding process.

Hotel La Concha in La Paz just hours after hurricane Odile ripped through.

The Cabo San Lucas Airport was brand new but left in shambles.

Power lines and debris are knocked over on a street after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz

Hurricane Odile devastated neighborhoods. Baja is still re-building but financially, recovery will be long-coming .

As far as fishing, we were back to fishing within a week of the storm. However, since airports were shut down or destroyed, there was no way for clients to come into Baja and hence suffered many weeks of cancelations and lost bookings during the part of the season which is traditionally the busiest time of the year. The ripple effect on much of the economy will take a long time to recover.

But interestingly, right after the hurricane, fishing took off! Some of the best fishing took place in the weeks and months post-Odile with dorado, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, and other species biting better than they had at any time of the year and with continued warm waters through Christmas, continued to bite!

Bucket list marlin for Steve Snead from Idaho who battled this guy for a long fight despite his bad back and released the fish to fight another day!

Cathy and Craig tags wahoo dorado small 10-14

Craig and Cathy Corda had a gigantic nice day on the water with dorado and wahoo!

First timers, Mike and Robbi Caray with one of several big dorado caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Here’s hoping for a mo’ bettah 2014, but as long as all of us are safe, happy and have each other, all is good. Here’s to wishing you the best with a big MUCHAS GRACIAS for being part of this great adventure! God bless you all!