ROOSTERS GONE WILD! JACKS AND POMPANO ROLL UP ON BEACHES! WAHOO GETTING MORE ACTIVE WITH ANGLERS WHILE DORADO FINALLY START TO SHOW!
La Paz / Las Arenas Report for May 27, 2007
PHOTO 1 : Daniel Lee from Indiana was on his first trip to Baja and first salt-water trip. He holds up one of our first dorado of the season. We started get more dorado this week as waters warmed. Dan was fishing for pargo near the Punta Perrico rocks when several mahi shot through and bit the baits. Daniel also got his first wahoo this week as well as roosterfish! Talk about beginners luck!
PHOTO 2: You can’t see his face, but no mistaking the fish! This slugger rooster is being held by Bruce Kim of S.Pasadena CA. Las Arenas beach is in the background. Bruce said they had run out ‘ve bait and then used a small cocinero (jack) and hung this bad boy…the captain said it weighed about 30 kilos…65 pounds. We got lots of roosters this week and almost all of them were being released.
PHOTO 3: That’s no salmon! Cindi Colvin from Oregon had quite a first day with her husband Mark. In addition to numerous other species, they got TWELVE roosters including this 45 pounder. Cindi says they were into the fish five minutes after they started fishing. All fish were released.
PHOTO 4: Mark Colvin came down from Oregon and couldn’t get into the photo. But Captain Victor did! In addition to the roosters, he and his wife, Cindi (photo above) also got big eyed-jacks, pompano and tough fighters like this huge jack crevalle (toro).
PHOTO 5: Bob Keaton worked the flyrod all week. The flyfishers had a ball for the most part all week with all the species in the water right now, but check out the huge pompano! Size of a pizza plate! Smile, Bob! Great catch.
PHOTO 6: Everyone keeps asking me what a big-eye jack is! We call ’em ojotones. They’re thick in the beaches now and great fun. Also, unlike their cousin roosterfish and jack creavalle, these guys are great eating! This is Paul Shepherd from San Jose modeling his fish for us.
PHOTO 7 : This is our economy party-boat panga. You get what you pay for! Just having some fun! Honest, we don’t crowd you in our pangas. We’re just waiting for the tide to float us off the beach!
PHOTO 8 : Mexican sand is HOT! Two blocks of ice come in handy for obviuos reasons!
OUR STORY
Well, I won’t say it was spectacular but in terms of light tackle inshore fishing, this past week was almost off the charts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a week where we got so many inshore species…pargo, snapper, rainbow runners, pompano, jack crevalle, big-eyed jacks, yellowtail, bonito…and roosters!!! OMG…amigos!!!
Imagine being 20 feet from shore in a panga cruising in 5 feet of water and watching the waters boil around you with roosters slicing through the chum…some of the fish 30-60 pounders with combs a foot out of the water!!!!
We had days where ever boat hooked 2, 4, 6, 7, even 12 roosters in a single day!!! That is unheard of! Guys come year after year trying to get a rooster and end up with a big ZERO! Right now, it’s almost like a shooting gallery! The only hinderance to getting the big boys is that when you flip a sardine into the water often the other jacks will grab it before the big rooster can gulp it!
Tell ya what else…if you like the light tackle…I had on 10 pound test and a 7 foot graphite spinning rod the other day and it was a complete hoot! I was almost spooled on every single fish even though I was high sticking and throwing water on the sizzling spool! Whether I was throwing plastics, bait, poppers…they were inhaled!
All of this was taking place for our Las Arenas fleet. It’s still a bit windy for most folks so we moved alot of our clients over to fish Las Arenas. Waters were noticeably warmer as water temps crept up into the high 70’s. The winds were the key. The less wind the better the fishing.
As you can see from the photos, we started getting some dorado and I will personally tell you that there’s at least one wahoo out there swimming around with my rapala stuck in his jaw as I was bit off twice this week. The wahoo are here just not many coming aboard. It seems everyday more and more biters are hitting; cutting lines; tearing up lures but only a handful hitting the beach, but no question…the wahoo are here!!!
Also seeing more and more billfish but they’re still not real cooperative.
For our La Paz boats, some sporadic dorado action but most were fishing inshore to get away from the strong morning winds. Big pargo, cabrilla and an occasional big yellowtail were the main catches.
PERSONAL STORIES
“MY NAME IS DAVID WEHNER, AND MY WIFE’S NAME IS MARY. WE FISHED WITH YOU THREE YEARS AGO AND HAD A BLAST. WE TOOK 2 YEARS OFF AND CAME BACK DOWN ANYWAY, YOU HOOKED US UP WITH SKIPPER ADOLPHO (“YOFO”) ON MONDAY. I HAVE FISHED MOST OF MY LIFE AND AM 60 YEARS YOUNG, BUT I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM WATCHING ADOLPHO OPERATE. HE GOT US INTO A SURFACE BITE ON ROOSTERS, RED SNAPPER AND YELLOW TAIL. HE WORKED THE BOILS PERFECTLY! WE HAD GREAT LUCK, AND I GOT BURIED TWICE BY GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT! TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL FISH I HAVE EVER HOOKED! MY WIFE MARY, WHO GOT A THIRTY POUND ROOSTER IN THE BOAT WAS ALSO DELIGHTED. ”
DIVING
Waters are warming. Schools of dolphin around and we finally got whalesharks in the area
BAD MANNERS
A few days ago off Punta Perrico, all the panga fleets were working the waters for pargo. Several boats of freediving spearfishers moved right in. They set up floats and a perimeter right in the middle of our boats and into the water they went. You can imagine what that did to the bite with all the captains, crews and clients pretty pissed off. Guys are trying to make a living. There’s a ton of ocean out there. C’mon! They got chased out but by then, every pargo in the area had gone back into it’s holes. Ruined it for everyone. That’s just bad sportsmanship. The ocean is big enough for everyone.
That’s my story
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“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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