PHOTO 1: Jack McGuire from Orange Co., California with this monster of a dorado. The 50 pound-class fish was taken on light tackle which is Jack’s specialty when he comes down here. Dorado were once-again the mainstay of the week’s catch although changing water conditions meant sometimes it was hit-or-miss. See more details below.
PHOTO 2: Bob Woods, Tom Moon, and Tony Toven from the Los Angeles CA area show off a really strange catch for July. Take a close look…in addition to the dorado and the tuna they’re holding YELLOWTAIL! These fish are normally caught here in the spring when waters are cooler, but for the last two weeks we started getting yellowtail again on bait and on yo-yo iron! Weird! Some of the fish have been as large as 40 pounders. The yellowtail might be here because waters cooled this past week a few degrees which might also explain why overall fishing slowed a bit as well.
PHOTO 3: When you only have two hands to hold 3 fish, it’s hard to show off a grand-slam catch of tuna, dorado and yellowtail, but TonyToven found a way to photograph all of them at Las Arenas Beach. Needless to say they dog-piled onto the sashimi that night at the restaurant! Nothing fresher!
PHOTO 4: All the way from New Mexico, Darren Hanson holds up one of the nicer bull dorado of the week. Darren was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet north of La Paz our towards the islands. Dorado were the focus of most of the fishing this week. While not spectacular, the fishing for the most part was solid with some good days and some slower days as the dorado schools moved around.
PHOTO 5: Sailfish release. We love to see this. Not only a good photo, but a good release as well. We release about 80 percent of our billfish and encourage letting ’em go. This season has been about average for the billfish. We haven’t seen alot of marlin or sailfish the last two weeks but there were still some bitiers. We’re about to head into the blue and black marlin zone as the end of summer and the fall seasons approach. Our largest fish this year has been around 700 pounds.
PHOTO 6: First-timer, Kevin Blakely, Jr. from Los Angeles had a momentus first trip with us getting tuna, sailfish and dorado including this bull while fishing with Captain Yofo and our Las Arenas fleet.
PHOTO 7: Although the tuna weren’t as crazy as previous weeks, but off Las Arenas there’s still some tuna cruising through. Al Tesoro comes down several times a year and always fishes with Captain Adolfo.
PHOTO 8: Captain Victor put Steve Kerchichian on this nice roosterfish he got off S.Cerralvo Island. The high-schooler came with the intent of catching just a single rooster and instead “stopped counting at 10” and maybe got over 20 roosters on his first day. The roosterfish are still here but few folks are fishing for them now that the dorado and tuna are in the area.
PHOTO 9: On a sadder note, we lost our friend, mentor and Tailhunter Family member, Jack Velez, to a heart attack this week. Jack had been sick for the past few months but seemed to be on the recovery. He was an icon and a character in La Paz for decades and with us since the first days of Tailhunter 15 years ago. Many of you may remember his crazy sense of humor and boisterous laugh in the early morning hours as he delivered the breakfasts and lunches before we packed you off in the vans to Las Arenas. He could laugh at anything and certainly himself and always greeted people by bragging, “I am the only Mexican that is ever on time!” He was one-of-a-kind and will be sorely missed. Jack leaves a wife and 3 young kids so we’re starting a fund for them. Details are below.
CHANGING WATER CONDITIONS MAY HAVE SLOWED THE BITE BUT DORADO STILL FILL FISH BOXES MOST DAYS
It can’t always be “SPECTACULAR” or “AWESOME” or “OF THE CHARTS!” But better to be honest. It wasn’t bad either! In fact, we had some pretty darned nice fishing all week. I think the fishing had just been so incredible for the last few weeks that we got spoiled, but we had some good solid fishing this week with a nice mix of fish.
The backbone of our catch were dorado for both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets. At times the fish were thick. At others, it was a pick day. Each boat seemed to do differently each day. The slow boat one day became the hot boat the next. The boat that had all the big fish one day, had trouble finding fish the following day. But, if you put in 2-3 days on the water, EVERYONE got fish! They ranged in size from newbie 5 pounders up to fish in the 40-50 pound class.
As well, there was still a smattering of tuna off Las Arenas and incredibly, some yellowtail biting as well. These yellowtail have been showing up the last two weeks in a total surprise since yellowtail season is in the spring when the waters are cooler and right now things are anything but cool. The yellowtail are biting the live bait fished a little deeper and some larger fish were lost in the rocks estimated in the 30-40 pound class. The guys who knew how to fish yo-yo iron really did better.
I tell you what I think, we looked at the satellite charts and although it seems like the ocean is warm as a bath and the air is blazing, the water tempos actually have been dropping over the last week or so. It’s come down a good 3 or 4 degrees. That may not seem like much but it’s enough to put the fish into a bit of a pout until things level off. I think that’s why the bite may be a bit off. Other species this week included some sails and striped marlin (all but one released) and a few wahoo were hooked, but not landed.
As mentioned above, we lost our amigo, Jack Velez this week. To so many he was a comic, a character, a scamp and a clown, but he was always a gentleman from the old-school. He could make anyone laugh and best of all could laugh at himself. “Never fear when Jack is here!” was his motto. He always loved all the clients and would always go the extra mile for service and deliver it with a smile and often a song too! I used to call him the “Ricky Ricardo of La Paz.” I wish you could have heard some of the stories he would tell of “Old La Paz.”
Jack’s dad, Rudy Velez, used to run the fleet for the Ruffo Brothers for the old Hotel Cocos then went off on his own and set up his own fleet. Jack and his brothers ran with dad and their list of stories and celebrities who fished with them back in the day included Chuck Connors, Clark Gable, Steve McQueen, James Garner and others.
Many of you wanted to send flowers or donations for flowers, but we came up with a better idea instead that has met with a lot of approval so far from many of you. Jack leaves his wife, Gelines and three great youngsters that many of you have watched grow up…Felicia, Daniel and Jacobo. Rather than spend money on flowers, anyone who wants to contribute to a special fund for the family, would be welcome. No pressure. A number of amigos have already sent checks even before this announcement. Just send me an e-mail at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm
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.”
Thanks-a-mundo for the article.Really thank you! Will read on…