PHOTO 1: Al Tesoro and Richard Onishi make several trips a year to La Paz and got a variety of fish this past week typical of fishing right now including some tuna, dorado, rockfish and these nice pargo liso (red ones) and a nice cabrilla. While most anglers come to La Paz during the springtime to fish the coveted pargo, the fall is also a good time to get into these tough fish.
La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 2-9. 2008
PHOTO 2: Better quality dorado came up early this week again. This is our amigo, Al Tesoro with some nice fish headed to the filet boards. These late season dorado are a real treat. Water temperatures are dropping and winds are becoming more prevailant so we don’t know how much longer they’ll be in our area.
PHOTO 3: Spent a good portion of the week working in Cabo San Lucas at the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot Tourament. What a great time! Check this out: http://www.wonews.com/t-BajaReport-cabojackpot.aspx There were 98 teams this year from all over the country. Above is the team from the boat “Bottom Line” after the first of two days fishing. They did not have the largest fish of the tournament, but because of all side pot jackpots they entered, they went home with more than 270 thousand dollars. Largest fish was caught on the boat “Redrum” which was a 244 pound yellowfin tuna. However, they were not entered into all the jackpots they won “only” about 70 thosand dollars. A 40 pound dorado won that particular category and was worth a nice 64 thousand dollars.
PHOTO 5: On hand at the tuna tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Corona Beer sent the Corona girls to work at the weigh station to lend some color and smiles to the event. I never got her name, but she was a good sport about this photo. I”m 5′ 4″ tall. She’s 6’3″ tall and it made for a funny photo!Wow! Talk about late season surprises. Here I am thinking that things have pretty much turned the corner and calmed down for the season and that our blue water bite has played itself out. All of a sudden, wahoo don’t just show up…they BLOW UP!
In perhaps one of the best remembered wahoo bites, areas around Cerralvo Island and especially at the north point were boiling with wahoo. Bite of a lifetime!!!! Fish from 30-70 pounds were not uncommon and eating trolled Rapalas and Yo-Zuri’s in the darker colors but were also schooling up enough to throw the wahoo bombs as well. Some boats took 2, 3 or more fish.
The biggest problem was knowing when to go. You had to leave early whether you fished out of La Paz or Las Arenas because you’re looking at more than 90 minutes of running time across the channel and (here’s the rub)…that’s if it was calm! The winds are blowing more consistently these days and it made for either a rough ride or you simply could not make it and had to turn around. Wasted day! But that’s the chance you took. The payout was well worth it if you hit it on the right day!
In addition to the wahoo, yellowfun tuna in the 10-30 pound class were in the same northern areas of Cerralvo and both fleets also produced a good smattering of dorado. In fact, some really nice quality fish up to 40 pounds were not uncommon, but you could find yourself in a full-on dorado ripper with fish all around the boat. Or…you could spend the day hitting one or two fish here and there and realize at the end of the day that you had a full fish box.
Inshore fishing seems to be getting better. Surprisingly, there’s still roosterfish around and in the rocks, cabrilla and pargo are becoming more active…or maybe more anglers are just fishing for them. However, this time of year always seems a good bet to fish inshore. If the winds are blowing it’s a great alternative for action.
That’s our story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
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