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Posts Tagged ‘yellowfin’

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 21-28, 2014

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Debbie Winkleman from Arizona gets a lift from Captain Boli after putting this nice bull dorado in the boat near Espirito Santo Island.

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Ken Cavallon (left) from Washington got his first sailfish just before the hurricane hit. He gets a hand from amigos, Wade Webster and Scott Daniels. Unfortunately, their fishing got interrupted by the storm.

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Another dorado for Debbie on the beach in front of La Concha Hotel!

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Mike Bryant with one of his dorado that he got just off the point at Las Arenas.

Jilly and JR

Two weeks ago, we were ankle deep and surveying the damage the morning after Odile struck La Paz. Fallen trees…broekn windows…shattered glass everywhere. It had been a long and sleepless night.  The start of many to follow.  The hotel has made a remarkable recovery!



 

LA PAZ…AIRLINES…FISHING BACK ON TRACK!

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

Two weeks ago, we were standing in the water surveying the rubble and destruction for the biggest hurricane ever to hit Baja.  Two weeks later…WE’RE ON THE COMEBACK!  We’re digging out with remarkable speed!

Frankly, there hasn’t been alot of fishing going on since the hurricane.  All the tourists have pretty much been evacuated or, there’s no way to fly in, or hotels have been damaged or without services so trips have been canceled.  Local residents or expats aren’t fishing either as everyone struggles to get back on keel with larger things to worry about like food, water, gas and their homes and jobs.

However, we’ve had a few boats out here and there.  Weather has still been erratic.  Nothing bad, but there have been some lingering intermittent rain cells that have moved through the area that has also kept us off the water or winds strong enough where it was better just not to put out any boats.

As might be expected, the further we get away from the hurricane, the better the water conditions.  Given that we just had the biggest hurricane in Baja history, it’s not surprising that the waters were very overturned dirty and green.  Lots of debris in the water too.

The first few days, there were a few small dorado around.  Some sierra and bonito as well.

Within a few days, we were seeing more dorado, but they seemed interested, but wary.  Very hesitant to take a bait or lure.

By the end of this week, the fish were back on the chew.  We had limits or near limits of dorado including some nice bulls in the 20-30 pound class as well as bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle and a few small rooster fish.

For everyone who sent well wishes and support phone calls and e-mails, we much appreciated it.  We’re digging out and like everyone else, trying to manage and pull back together.  The storm has been pretty devastating. On many levels.

The La Paz Airport is back in operation.  Tourists are gone, but the hotels are jammed full with more than 20,000 escapees from Cabo San Lucas.

___________

And we just got this  HOT FLASH:

As of Oct 8th…ALASKA AIRLINES WILL HAVE ONE FLIGHT A DAY FROM LA PAZ TO CABO SAN LUCAS!!!

ALASKA AIR

Here is the official announcement:

Alaska Airlines will resume flying one daily roundtrip flight from Los Angeles

to Los Cabos starting Oct. 8 following the recent announcement that Los Cabos

International Airport will reopen. Tickets are now available for purchase at [

http://www.alaskaair.com/ ]www.alaskaair.com.

The airport sustained significant damage by Hurricane Odile and has since been

closed for repairs. 

Starting Oct. 8, Flight 236 will depart Los Angeles at 10:10 a.m. arriving in

Los Cabos at 1:26 p.m. The return Flight 251 will depart Los Cabos at 2:25 p.m.

and arrive in Los Angeles at 3:45 p.m. 

Customers who are currently holding a reservation on flight 236 or 251 for Oct.8 or later do not need to rebook their flight.  

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All our pangas and captains are well.  We pulled the pangas out’ve the water before the storm hit.  The La Paz captains did better than our Las Arenas captains.  At Las Arenas, many in the area are will without water, power, electricity or phones.  Compound that with the tremendous loss of work with all the cancelations.  The loss of work is a big hit for everyone.

Generally, here in La Paz, most areas have water and power and phones again.  But many of the outlying areas are still lacking services two weeks after the storm.  Of course, many of those who had the least, lost the most and have the hardest time making the comeback.  In Cabo, they have approximately only 15% back on the grid, but the improvement is remarkable given initial estimates.  As mentioned above, the airport will start getting flights this week.  Many hotels are opening albeit on a limited basis.  But again, the most underprivileged areas were hit the hardest and will take the longest to recover.

Many have asked for ways to help.  Thanks for the generous hearts.  If you’re coming down, ANYTHING is welcome.  Many people lost everything.  All ages.  All areas.  Clothes…school supplies…medical supplies…anything is appreciated and needed.  If you’re not coming down, there are still ways to help:

La Paz Rises

https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Paz-Rises/636793356437674

Links for donations and other info will be up and hopefully it can be of use as a clearing house for info.  My wife Jill started this page.

 FANLAP (Judy’s kids)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/index.php?webkey=losninosdelapaz

Cruceros (search, rescue etc)

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Waves for Water

http://www.gofundme.com/en7dtw

Baja disaster relief fund (Mexican Red Cross/International Community Foundation)

http://icf-xchange.org/donateonline/?webkey=bajadisasterrelief

 

That’s our story.   

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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, 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 Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet for Week of June 1-8, 2014

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All hail the “Wahoo King!” Mike Guest from Phoenix Arizona has been coming to fish with Tailhunters in La Paz for years and never got a wahoo despite great efforts. This past week after only two days he got three wahoo and lost two other, but did get this one huge beast estimated at 60-70 pounds near Cerralvo Island. Amigo, Esteban Romero, gives a hand!

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Cole Chavira from Solana Beach CA always smokes the fish here in La Paz since he was little kid. He’s now in high school and nothing changes. He put the wood to this big cabrilla on a deep jigged yo-yo iron!

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He came all the way from Lisbon, North Dakota, but Joe Nelson told us, “It’s been as cold as 30 degrees below zero back home” and he wanted some sunshine and his first rooster fish! He got both including this fat rooster off the rocks at Punta Perico with Captain Archangel of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Al Rodriguez has fished in La Paz and Baja but NEVER got a dorado so he really focused on one this past week. He did that…and MORE! Well done, Al. He nailed this nice bull just outside of La Paz Bay.

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Malibu in the house! Luke Appel dropped the hammer on this sweet amberjack off Isla Espirito Santo on a heavy jig north of La Paz.

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Captain Adolfo from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet helps Megan Kennedy from Washington with the smiles and a big roosterfish just off the rocks outside of Bahia de Los Muertos! The fish was released!

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Gabe Rodriguez was in town with his dad and to celebrate his 40th birthday doing some fishing. He and dad both got into the dorado with Captain Rogelio of our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Feliz cumpleanos!

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Happy Honeymoon! Pat Snyder from Orangevale CA said this fish “beat him up” for 30 minutes while fishing with Captain Armando. He was here on his first trip to La Paz and to celebrate his first week of marriage! Congrats to him and Kathy!

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A well-deserved “thumbs-up” from Captain Jorge to pose with Kevin Kennedy and his big roosterfish that he caught and released not too far off the little cliffs at Punta Perrico. Our amigo, Kevin, is from Washington.

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Colin Reed from San Diego with a speedy wahoo he caught off Cerralvo Island where the wahoo bite has been pretty steady for several weeks!

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Pretty good for a first day fishing and first time to La Paz for brothers Andew and Ian Vale Cruz from San Diego. They got a variety of fish including these two trophys. Andrew holds up a big dog-tooth snapper and Ian has his first wahoo. Captain Pancho fails the photo bomb!

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Everyone was in on the dorado bite including amiga, Nina Duc Le and son, Will, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over 3 days fishing they got marlin, dorado, bonito, and others!

 

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!  FISH BITE!  RODS BEND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 1-8, 2014

 

 

Good solid fishing this week for both of our Tailhunter Fleets for once.  Usually, either the La Paz fleet is doing better than our Las Arenas fleet or vice versa!

However, this week, I would have to say that for once, we had alot more consistency which made for some good catches and action for our anglers although here and there, some anemia still persisted.  Basically, some boats did better than others on a given day.  But, overall, everyone got fish.

For our Las Arenas anglers, the big news continues to be the wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island with some bruiser wahoo literally hammering the Yo-Zuri and especially the Rapala X-Rap lures which seem to be the season’s new-found “hot lure”.  Run ‘em deep and they get bit!

I gotta say, there’s gotta be some big time wahoo underwater because even with wire, some of the lures are still getting bit off.  And…get this…we’ve had some lures literally getting CRUSHED!  I mean, how often do you ever hear of a hard-bodied lure like a Rapala getting broken or even smashed by the teeth!  Or the treble hooks getting straightened out!  That’s a big mean fish that can do that!  We had several fish this week tickle the 50-pound mark and even one estimated at 70 pounds!

The other benefit of these deep running X-raps that can run 30’ down is that we’re actually getting some huge pargo on them!  (By the way, I am NOT a rep for Rapala!  Prior to this, I actually liked the Yo-Zuris better because the older metal-lipped Rapalas got “out of tune” too easily after a bonito slammed them.  But the new ones have acrylic lips that dive deep and don’t get all screwy!).

The other big star at Las Arenas has been the rooster fish.  Not as many “big fish” this week compared to other weeks when we had 50-90 pound roosters, but 30-45 pounders this week are nothing to sneeze at if you’ve ever gotten bent on one!  For many, this is an opportunity to finally get a rooster checked-off the bucket list and, also for many, they’ve never had a fish this big to contend with.  As one of our anglers told me later, “I don’t know what I was thinking asking for a 100-pound fish!  Prior to this, I had only caught a 40-pound salmon.  After 15 minutes on a 30 pound rooster, I was ready to pass off the rod to my friend and sit down with a beer!  These fish don’t give up!”

For dorado at Las Arenas there were polar opposites.  There’s a spot we’re starting to call the “nursery.”  There are so many 3 to 8 pound dorado there that you can hook a dozen quite easily and the flyfishers and light tackle anglers are having a blast.

Beyond that, there’s very little in between.  The dorado then jump up into the 25-30 pound class!  There’s a few out there and bigger ones as well.

For our La Paz fleet, dorado are the name of the game.  Limits or near limits of 15-40 pound fish are just inside La Paz Bay and some of our boats actually quit early and came back with anglers saying “no mas!”  Full fish boxes and ice chests after a few hours fishing were not uncommon.  Other anglers not doing as well, still had opportunities with quite a few fish lost to either inexperience or simply tough luck…but still plenty of action!

On a final note…alot more marlin and sailfish hooks ups this week with more billfish entering th area.  By my count, our two fleets hooked perhaps a dozen billfish of varying sizes including one blue marlin and the rest being 100 pound stripers and sailfish.  One fish brought in and the others either got un-bottoned or released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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

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

 

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 24-31, 2014

Rich Pomeroy tags small wahoo 5-14

Not only first time fishing in Mexico…BUT FIRST TIME FISHING IN SALT WATER! Rich Pomeroy from the Sacramento CA area had a spectacular week with a variety of fish including his first marlin, dorado, pargo and this cherry wahoo!

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Nice way to kick it on your bachelor party! Rich Drehsen from Camarillo CA was on his bachelor party here in La Paz and spent a few day on the water with us and shows off a trophy bull dorado just off the beach near Boca de Alamo near Bahia de Los Muertos.

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No doubt a trophy! But, this is one of the larger cabrilla we’ve seen so far this year and Rick Pope dropped the hammer on this bad boy near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz! We cooked up a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Rick was on a roll this week. He was even catching sizeable pargo on the docks behind La Concha Beach Resort at night!

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Stan Yung and Captain Archangel had a productive day! Take a look at the nice wahoo and dorado while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

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The quality of the dorado definitely improved this week with some nice bulls in the box like this brightly colored bull caught by our amigo from Diamond Bar CA Bill Hsu!

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He’s shy! But Randy from Canada is hiding somewhere behind the comb of this 40 pound roosterfish taken off the rocks near Punta Perrico with Captain Pancho! The fish was released and Randy is smiling back there…somewhere!

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A colorful lineup rogues gallery! Rich, Chris, Ron and Ed did a nice number on dorado and pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos! All are from Camarillo CA on Rich’s bachelor party!

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Big smiles as Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps Ken Errair from Oxnard CA who came down with his son, Cody, to spend a few days fishing and scuba diving with us.

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Arroyo Grande CA in the house! Mike Davis has been with us many times, but this is the first time he’s joined by his wife, Colleen who turned into quite a trooper and holds up some of their dorado catch with Captain Archangel.

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Roy Stenzel from the mountain area near Auburn CA caught and released this nice roosterfish with Captain Pancho during the week! Roosters are still here, although the emergence of dorado took some of the pressure off the roosterfish!

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Rick Pope and Rich Pomeroy with two of the many fish and species they caught while fishing 4 days with us!

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No arguing over the quality of these mahi mahi! Captain Jorge and Ed Drehsen hold a nice pair on the beach.

 

DORADO FINALLY FIRE IT UP AS WATERS WARM UP TOO!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 24-31, 2014

 

Maybe one of our best week’s of the young season!  Here we go…

Well, we seem to have dodged a major bullet this week.  Hurricane Amanda that formed up way south of us was watched intently all week.  Not only would it have been the first “named” storm f of the year, but more importantly, it would have been a doozy.

The weather folks say it would have been the strongest recorded hurricane ever for form up this early in the year.  The Category 5 blaster registered winds of up to 170 miles per hour and regular winds over 150 mph!  If it had made landfall, it would have torn up some real estate!

Fortunately, Amanda spun out and went off west into the Pacific Ocean and left us only with some cloudy skies…a few big rain drops…and actually very flat calm seas that didn’t even have a ripple on them!

Not sure how much it had to do with the fishing, but we sure had a pretty nice week of fishing!

Early in the week, we again had some sweet big rooster fish around our Las Arenas areas.  Las Arenas also produced some regular wahoo up to 45 pounds, pargo, cabrilla, sierra as well as jack crevalle and some huge big bonito.

But, the more remarkable thing was that the dorado roared to life for our La Paz anglers and pangas.  Towards the end of the week we were getting limits or near limits of fish up to 35 or 40 pounds and I would have to admit that the numbers were deceiving because our captains were coming back telling us that the clients lost more fish than they caught!  For example a panga might come back with 3 fish, but I would find out from the clients or our captain that they “farmed” 4, 5, 7, even 10 fish”   Every day was different.  Some better than others, but overall, it was a marked difference from previous weeks.

But, that’s all fun!  Lots of action is a good thing!

Even the flyfishers are having a better time of it.  They’ve had a tough time because of a lack of bait during the early season, but they even got into the dorado this week as well although roosters on the fly have proved to be a bit more difficult.  We had one amigo who got  25 dorado caught-and-released on the flyrod on a single day.

Also remarkable was the fact that we’ve been lamenting the lack of bait all season.  However, this week there stacks upon stacks of bait around La Paz beaches…mackerel…caballitos…huge sardines…ballyhoo!   The bait was thick!

In fact, there was so much bait in the bay for several days that we had dorado swimming in the shallows inside the marina and harbor areas within casting distance of the hotels.  We also have clients who were beach fishing in the late afternoons hooking some big pargo and cabrilla and several marlin were seen inside the bay as well!

Not sure if this will last or we’re finally kicking into summer, but I will tell you that the water temps edged up a few degrees this week and alot of the green plankton water burned of leaving us with some gorgeous blue water like the kind you see in postcards!

We even got out to the islands to sneak away for a few hours of scuba diving, paddle-boarding and kayaking!  Jill got to put a few more dives under her belt with her new certification!

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Jill kicking along about 40 feet down in 82 degree water at Isolotes north of La Concha!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS FROM THE ISLAND…JILL DIVING…PLAYFUL SEALIONS…BAJA TORQUOISE BAY!

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The Beach at Ensenada Grande on Espirito Santo Island run by our amigos at Fun Baja and a great place to kick it for the afternoon after diving and snorkeling. With kayaks, paddle boards, palapas, lounges and a great little lunch kitchen, it’s hard to beat!

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 18-25, 2014

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Another week of big big big roosters! Leading the way is Brian Davis with a fish estimated by Captain Pancho as 85-95 pounds and caught on live bait off Las Arenas. This beauty was released…as were all roosters this week. Brian brought a great gang of amigos with most of them from Louisiana.

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This i s just a pretty photo! I might just frame it. First-timer, amigo, Boyd Loveless from Utah brings aboard a nice dorado with a hand from Captain Raul. Check out that flat water! Water temps are almost 85 degrees now!

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Captain Armando and Kacie Ellis from Portland are all smiles as they get ready to put this big roosterfish back in the water. Kacie is from the Portland area and she was at our Tailhunter Restaurant almost every night to watch her Portland Trailblazers on our TV!

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Biggest wahoo of the week and winner of $100 best from his amigos, Eddie Flanigen posted up this nice fish he hooked off the south end of Cerralvo Island on his first day of fishing. Ed is from Louisiana and is holding his fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

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From Utah, Shirl Loveless just seemed to be the “hot stick” no matter where he fished or who he fished with all week! Check out the bad boy rooster he caught and released with Captain Pancho just a few yards off the sand at Punta Arenas.

SCOTT BEHNKEN pulls in a nice bull dorado!  PLAY THE VIDEO ABOVE!

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All the way from Indiana, Scott Behnken, pulled this nice bull dorado up north of La Paz. Check out the video in the photo above.

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He really wanted to get one and he stuck this trophy roosterfish near Punta Arenas. Mike Ellis from Oregon did a nice job catching-and-releasing this fish!

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The three amigos…they are funny as heck when they get together… Joey Stolarczyk, Walt Topping and Ziggy Haspod, found some nice spots of dorado just inside of La Paz Bay and put some nice fish in the box and lost other larger fish!

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Great big bull dorado for Shawn Silk from San Mateo CA. Shawn was on his first trip with us and nailed this nice fish north of La Paz just outside of La Paz Bay north of town.

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Jeff Jiles looks a bit surprised, but no doubt he’s got a trophy roosterfish with Captain Jorge just south of Bahia de Los Muetos. Jeff came to visit from Utah.

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Maybe one of the happiest guys of the week. Great fun to have Felipe Yanez with us fishing all week. He holds up a paid of dorado caught with our Las Arenas fleet.

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Ziggy and Walt…in danger of a bit of sunburn, but happy with another dorado on the gaff! Always good to have them visit!

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Not a bad day of fishing for the Loveless family. Russ Loveless…Jeff and Shirleen Jiles…Tony Loveless and dad (Shirl) in the hat with a batch of nice dorado on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort. Great fun family.

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Tony Loveless in on the roosterfish bite with another nice fish! Punta Perico in the background!

 

ROOSTERFISH BEASTS and SUMMERTIME DORADO!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 18-25, 2014

 

It’s actually been one of the hotter and more humid weeks of the year with temps every day just over 100.  It’s only May, but if felt like July. Waters were also noticeably warmer as well.  But, the good-side of that is much of the green plankton-colored water burned off and we’ve got some pretty blue stuff finally here!

Overall, another up-and-down week.  One day our Las Arenas fleet would be top-dog for fish and action.  Next day, Las Arenas would be tough and our La Paz fleet would be rocking the fishing.   Similarly, two pangas next to each other would be fishing and doing the exact same thing or working the same beach or patch of water.  One would hook up left-and-right.  The other would have guys scratching their heads wondering if they had unlucky bananas aboard.  There was just no predicting from day-to-day or from location to location.

The two biggest stars that came through were our dorado, especially for our La Paz anglers, with fish up to 40 pounds, but so so so many fish lost!  It made the counts very deceiving!  Our fishermen would come in with some sad stories and only 2 or 3 fish.  Then, I would check with our captain and he would say, “But they had lots of opportunities!  They LOST 7 fish!”  Well…that’s a big difference!

But, then on at least two days this week, our captains and anglers said, “We saw fish everywhere…dorado…roosters…jack crevalle…And they wouldn’t bite!  They would swim right by the baits uninterested!”

The best news as again, the rooster fish.  The roosters around Las Arenas have been doing really well. Again, we got some real horse-sized pez gallos.  Fish were generally 20-50 pounds which are nothing to sneeze at, but we also got some fish in the 60-70 pound class and even one estimated at 80-90 pounds!  All fish were released.

We also saw more marlin this week and are hearing stories of tuna moving into our area from the south.

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

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

 

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Dec. 22-29, 2013

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Jason Mills with us for the first time sports a nice fresh dorado while fishing off Las Arenas with the Tailhunter Fleet. It was a little tougher on the dorado as waters are getting cooler, but the fish are still around and a great bonus species to be catching in December!

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Ralph Shawver and Captain Jorge pose with another unusual biter for December, a striped marlin. It was Ralph’s first time with Tailhunters. The fish could not be released and was caught just south of Isla Cerralvo.

TOUGHER FISHING FOR CHRISTMAS WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec 22-29, 2013

It was a tougher pull this week for fishing around La Paz.  After so many weeks of unseasonably good fishing for a variety of species, this past week was more typical of what we see around our area for this time of year.  It was definitely chillier on the water.  A few more grey skies in the morning and choppy waters.  It was also much windier than in the past…perhaps the windiest week overall that we’ve had in awhile.

Whether because of the cooler temperatures or because of the wind or a combination of both, there were fewer of the blue water pelagic species that have treated us for so many weeks unexpectedly.  The marlin and dorado were much harder to find and the bite was sporadic.

However, inshore, we did get into some nice jags of fun sierra which are always great sport and great eating as well as bonito which are great sport…and not such good eating!  If you got into a school of sierra, limits weren’t hard to come by.

As well, we surprisingly still got rooster fish.  None of the big guys, but some fun 8-15 pounders which were a nice bonus and all fish were released.

It looks like this coming week is going to be less windy so we have our fingers crossed for some better fishing!

NEW MAILING ADDRESS FOR TAILHUNTERS

Thanks to everyone who sent us all the great Christmas cards!  You’re the best and we look forward to seeing you in 2014.  We have a new U.S. mailing address for Tailhunters:

TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL

8030 La Mesa Blvd.  

Box 178

La Mesa CA  91942

That’s our story!  Wishing you all the best for a great 2014!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Nov. 17-24, 2013

RAul marlin tags 11-13

Another good week for billfish surprisingly for so late in the season. Raul Chollet with Captain Armando got his first marlin. We got quite a few billfish and almost all of them were released. This one was taken just off Punta Perico.

Rick Amy dorado tags 11-13

From Wyoming, Rick and Amy Kasper always do well fishing with us. They got into a nice school of dorado just off Las Arenas. Dorado are getting more scarce as the waters cool, but so far, we’re still finding roaming schools.

marlin benny tags small 11-13

Benny Salgado is often seen playing lead guitar with the Tailhunter Restaurant house band on Friday nights. He went fishing with us for the first time ever on the water and first time fishing. His first fish ever…a striped marlin!

dorado raul small tags 11-13

Raul Chollet has another dorado for the panga. Most of the dorado this week were the 8-20 pound class fish, but they’re hungry and voracious!

amy rooster tags 11-13

Even though it’s almost December, there’s still roosterfish in the water! Captain Jorge with Amy Kasper just inside Bahia de Los Muertos caught and released this roosterfish.

on the beach group tags

Many thanks to our long-time amigo, Bill Boyce (orange shirt) who brought his great camera crew down this week to fish with us and film for his popular TV show “IGFA Saltwater Adventures.” They got some great footage and had some fun with our folks!

BLUE WATER SPECIES STILL HOLDING!

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

It wasn’t a spectacular week of fishing, but given the time of the year, it wasn’t a bad week either and there were some very good catches. It’s just that seasons are changing and water temperatures are dropping taking with it more and more of the warm water species.

But, still, we had OK numbers of dorado. Limits were harder to come by, but everyone still got a few dorado between 8 and 20 pounds. There were also some decent surprising roosters around near the Las Arenas lighthouse with most fish between 10 an 30 pounds. We also still have decent numbers of billfish around as well. Every day we got at least 1 or more hook-ups on sailfish or marlin with most fish either breaking off or getting released. All of these species are somewhat unusual to still be biting this late in the season so these catches are treats. More likely, we should be fishing for more inshore species like cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle and pargo.

I imagine, as the waters continue to cool and winds get stronger, we’ll be fishing more and more for these inshore species.

One really nice spark this week were the appearance of wahoo. Mid-week, we got into a nice jag with several of our boats hooking up to the speedsters and a few getting boats. All of these were on the south side of Cerralvo Island and we had not taken any wahoo in about 2 week so this was a nice surprise to get into these trophies!

Our biggest day of the week happened to be when TV show host and IGFA Rep, Bill Boyce brought his film crew down to shoot for his TV show “IGFA Saltwater Adventures.” I was pretty nervous. Fishing had not been real great. It was also a full moon and windy plus being “off-season” wasn’t the best time to be fishing!

Still, Bill and his crew went out with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and brought the cameras. Between our 3 pangas out, we got some great footage! 6 marlin caught and released. Some great action on dorado plus some rooster fish caught in Muertos Bay!
That’s our story!  Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

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, 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 Sept 22-29, 2013

Kathys Sailfish in boat tags 9-13 small

Kathy Terbu has made several trips to fish with Tailhunter over the years but she timed it right to get into the big dorado bite and was fishing with light tackle when this huge sailfish estimated at 140-160 pounds slammed into her line. She fought the fish for about 90 minutes. Most sailfish in our area are half this size. Attempts to release the fish were not successful and the meat was donated to several families.

Tracy burns dorado 9-13 tags

Tracy Burns came down to fish a few days with her dad. She lives in Topanga Canyon CA and while fishing north of La Paz she put this big bull dorado in the boat along with a full limit of other mahi.

Vince small dorado 9-13 tags

Fresh one! Vince Langgle from the San Diego Area, gaffs another big bull to put in the box. Dorado fishing this past week was as fast and furious as I have ever seen it. Maybe ever.

DORADO DAVE 1 gaff tags 9-13 small

Dave “Mahi” Hill has been our amigo for many years and came all the way out from Texas to spend the with with us. He got 4 banner days of dorado fishing in with numerous fish caught and released.

dorado leslie pilkington 9-13 tags

The ladies had such a big week with us. Leslie Pilkington from Orangevale CA was on her first trip to fish with us in La Paz and had a successful outing with Captain Pancho and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fishing fleet.

Johns Dorado Horizontal small tags 8-13

It was a week full of school-sized dorado….all you could want. But there were still some big bulls mixed in like this beauty bull that might have been one of the largest of the week and caught by John Terbu from Utah. He’s on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

Chris tags dorado 8-13 small

Another San Diego amigo, Chris Wellons, made the best of only two days of fishing with easy limits both day with this young bull dorado among many while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

roosterfish kuhn small 9-13 tags

Yes! There’s still roosterfish around. I haven’t posted up many photos the last few weeks because no one has been fishing for them. Everyone has been chasing all the pelagic species and ignoring the roosters. But there’s still some fish up on the beaches like Ted Kuhn’s 30 pounder. Ted’s from Arizona and he tried to release the fish but was unsuccessful. He also hooked a 40 pound class rooster as well.

Gary Pilkington tags squid 9-13

If you fish with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, this is how your morning starts…with fishing for giant squid like our amigo, Gary Pelkington . The squid make great bait but also setting some aside is a good idea for dinner!

MAYBE THE BEST DORADO BITE…EVER!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 22-29, 2013

The last two weeks may well have been the best dorado fishing we have seen in years around here in La Paz.  Basically, ever since the last storm it was as if someone turned on a switch and the school-sized dorado either woke up or someone stirred up the nest and released a ha-zillion 10-20 pound dorado!

“We caught our first limit in less than an hour and then after that, we lost count of how many we released!”

“We only stopped the panga once and never moved for the next 3 hours.  It was like being in a private trout pond except these were schools of dorado everywhere under the panga!  It was crazy!”

“I’ve heard people joke about fish ‘jumping into the boat’ but the dorado were so thick they would actually bump in to the panga when they were charging the chum and I hooked one and it actually DID land in the panga.  We had 3-5 dorado hooked up at any one time!”

“In the middle of the frenzy I felt this big slam in my back and thought it was my buddy slapping me, it was a small dorado that hit me in the back and fell back in the water!”

“It was like someone rang a dinner bell and these fish had never been fed but they heard there was a free meal! There were so many swarming in, around and under the panga!” 

These are no exaggeration. For about the last 8 or 9 days, imagine 20…30…40 or more dorado per day!  Anglers losing count of how many fish they caught and released.  Fish, not even hooked, jumping all around the boats.  Just jumping!  Fish fighting each other to grab baits.  Fish bumping the pangas and slamming into the gunwales.  Fish hooked on hand lines.  Fish eating bits of tortilla and grabbing bear hooks tossed into the water.  Hooked fish getting knocked off the hooks by other fish chasing the hooked fish and the left-over bait getting picked up by another fish!

Just incredible dorado fishing unlike anything many of us have ever experienced.

My biggest worry is that we’ve had so many first-timers here and the think it is ALWAYS like this!  The bar has been set awfully high!

On the light tackle and flyrod, these dorado have been spectacular!

Between our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets, the bite has been epic.  If there was a distinction this week, it was that there were MORE fish at Las Arenas and a bit fewer fish out’ve La Paz, but bigger fish.  Most of the Las Arenas fish were 8-17 pounds.  The La Paz fish tended to be 10-35 pounders, just not quite as many!

As for other action, there’s been a far number of billfish hookups as sailfish and marlin cruise through the schools of dorado also eating the chum or baits or simply eating the many dorado.  In the same areas, we also found wahoo again, although those hookups don’t usually last long. Finally ,contrary to the belief of many, there’s still roosterfish in the areas as we hooked several 30-40 pound fish along the beaches.  No tuna to speak of except way way outside of Cerralvo Island.  Waters might be getting cooler as we’re seeing a few sierra in the fishing mix.  But, really hard to tell about other species since everyone has been chasing this mad dorado bite.

Hope this keeps up!

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

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

Mike Sontag dorado huge tags  7-13

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

wahoo rex smith tags 7-13

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

Alison dorado 7-13 tags

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

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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

John Wessner dorado tags 7-13

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

DCIM100GOPRO

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

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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

Jess dorado tags 7-13

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

dorado allen and josh 7-13 tags

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

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

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

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

 

 

BIG DORADO BILLFISH

TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you’re coming down, a few tips…

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

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

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

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

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

dorado becky and jimmy csutoras tags 7-13

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

George Higi III wahoo dorado tags 7-13

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

rooster bill lewis tags 7-13

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

Hosmer dorado tuna 7-13 tags

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

Kris Jo Biddle dorado tags 7-13

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

Esteban wahoo 7-13 tags

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

Becky Marlin 7-13 tags

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

Jimmy csustoras tags marlin 7-13

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

Sierra Exif JPEG

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

rooster chuck banning 7-13

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

HOsmer dorado broken rod 7-13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully, thing will only improve!

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

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

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

Read Full Post »

P1000837 ron rooster tags 6-13

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

Ron Rooster 3 tags 6-13

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

Taylor Murphey tags dorado flex 6-13

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

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

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

Dave Lester tags amberjack 6-13

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

Jeannine Stenzel dorado tags 6-13

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

Rooster Al Janc tags 6-13

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

Dorado whitlow 2 6-13 tags

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

dog tooth pancho tags 6-13

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

dorado nancy lerch 6-13 tags

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

Ryan and Ed Vander Veer tags dorado 6-13

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

tuna grande tags 6-13

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

Jerry Pederson dorado Boli 6-13 tags

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

dorado Bob Benjamin  tags 6-13

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

dorado xavier lerch tags 6-13

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

aeromexico (1)

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

Big yellowtail roger 6-13 tags

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

VIDEO of the WEEK!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 MEXICO FLUBS FISHING LICENSES!

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 AERO MEXICO NOW DIRECT TO LA PAZ!

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

That’s our story!  Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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