PHOTO 1: Lots of firsts for Kenny Nishimura from the Sacramento CA area. First time in Baja. First time fishing in Baja. First dorado! And it’s a gem. He holds up a sweet bull dorado that raked him across the ocean for awhile, but he put the fish in the boat! Kenny was fishing with his dad and other Sacramento firefighters this past week north of La Paz where dorado were a bit picky this week, but there were still some prizes to be had.
SCRATCHY FISHING MAKES ANGLERS WORK HARD FOR THEIR FISH THIS WEEK BUT EVERYONE STILL WENT HOME WITH FISH!
La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Aug. 16 to 23, 2008
PHOTO 2: One of the highlights of the week was the re-appearance of wahoo willing to go after a trolled lure or bait. Both the north and south side of Cerralvo Island had a few biters like this great 37-pounder held by Scott Singleton from the Sacramento area in California. He was fishing with our Las Arenas fleet south of the island
PHOTO 3: Tony Glover was on his first trip with us. He took a vacation from serving in Afghanistan with special forces protecting the U.S. embassy in Kabul and decided to do some fishing and also get his scuba certifcation. Tony hung this slugger bull dorado fishing north out of La Paz with Captain Marcos. 
PHOTO 4: Kari Strickland from Mobile, Alabama poses with a dorado she hooked and landed east of Espiritu Santo Island. This was her first trip with us here in La Paz.
PHOTO 5: Paul Romano comes to see us every year with his dad Carl and has so many adventures every time! His first day fishing he pulls up on this huge blue marlin estimated at over 300 pounds. Many of you know famous Captain Chito Martinez standing alongside. Paul said he got the fish in about an hour. All the fish was donated to local families. 
PHOTO 6: I couldn’t resist. Kenny Nishimura also got his first roosterfish with us this week as well as his first dorado. It’s great when you’re 14 years-old and on a trip with dad. He actually got several roosterfish on this particular day fishing less than 50 feet off the Las Arenas beach in water no deepter than 3 feet. I have to call it like I see it. It was a bit of a down week this past week around here. Actually, it’s been a little longer than a week of picky fishing. I know some are blaming the full moon on the 16th of August, but I hate putting the blame on a lunar cycle. Not my style. Most of the time this past year on a full moon cycle we slammed fish. But not this last week.
I can’t detect anything really different. Water is and has been a great 85-88 degrees on the surface. Our scuba divers tell me even at depth, it’s not much cooler…a warm 82. Air temperatures are in the upper 90’s each day and we have our seasonal tropical rain showers in the afternoon. Water is mostly clear. Winds have been down with only slight breezes. Criminy…we even have good bait!
Maybe it’s just Mother Nature giving us a reminder slap not to be cocky and telling us it’s still fishing! Because Jiminy Crismas, we had some good dorado and tuna fishing the past few weeks. As all things here in the Cortez are cyclical, I can only believe it’s going to go on the upswing…just in time for YOUR trip coming up! Right? I have my fingers crossed! September and October are traditionally our BEST and hottest fishing months to swing on fish so don’t get all droopy-eyed. (Yes, I know the tuna and dorado are getting caught on half-day boats in S.California so don’t write me and rub it in!) This is still Steinbeck’s and Ray Cannon’s Sea of Cortez we’re talking about!
So, wassup?
Well, the great tuna bite of the last month for our Las Arenas fleet tapered off. Actually the problem could very well be the bait. We have LOTS of it. Not a problem. However, during the weeks the tuna were going off, we had the scrawniest, tiniest baits imaginable. They barely fit on a hook. They were so small they were almost transparent. If you saw them you’d have to roll your eyes and figured you were in for bad fishing. On the contrary, the tuna LOVED the small baits and gulped them by the handfuls.
Well, this past few weeks we got the NORMAL sized sardines back. Good healthy swimmers. The kind we love to have in the baits wells. Unfortunately, the tuna don’t seem to like ’em as well. I guess we have to go looking for sickly bait! Go figure!
Anyway, the tuna we found dropped from about 10 per boat/day to about 1-4 per boat per day and generally caught at the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Football-sized yellowfin ranged from about 8-17 pounds punctuated by flurries of bonito, skipjack and the occasional wahoo, marlin or sailfish. Roosterfish sometimes turned to be the saving grace on a few days when the boats would come in go light tackle in the inshore roosters catching and releasing most fish. However, just to be totally honest, I saw two days when the main catch was TRIGGER FISH! Great eating, but hardly what you come to Baja to fish for.
For our La Paz fleet, it was picky as well. It was pretty much so-so fishing with a few highlighted spikes. Most boats that past week got only 1-4 dorado on the average with a few nice bulls. However, it seemed one or two boats each day would find a hot spots and get limits in short order. If you were on a boat that worked hard, but just didn’t find the spot, you had a scratchy day. Some of our captains blamed the lack of current and the fact that it was “too calm” some days for the dorado.
I have to believe we’ll be rolling again. Despite what I wrote, everyone DID catch fish and everyone who wanted to bring home fish brought home fish. If you fished only one day, it could be that one day that stunk, but generally speaking, if you fished 2, 3 or 4 days, you went home with a fairly full cooler. It’s just that you had to really work hard for your fish and there was no room for error. Often, I’d talk to the guys coming back to the beach and they’d tell me they “only got 2 fish.” Of course, they’d be disappointed, but the captain would tell me they “LOST FIVE!” Like I said, you gotta be on your game. No second chances!
That’s our story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
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