PHOTO 1: Not a bad way to start a fishing trip. We’ve moved the pangas over to Muertos Bay and after a slow start because of winds, late in the week the bite finally turned on. Posing with a portion of their catch are Johnny Doumas, Jay Sanchez, Leo Avakian, Avo Agourian, Armen Minissian, Sam Henne and Paul Sipplian. The sailfish was an accidental catch by Avo (center). He was fishing a Megabait just jigging it for bottom fish and on the way down, he felt a hit. Suddenly, the rod blew up and he realized he had accidentally snagged a sailfish ON THE BACK! He had to fight it and while doing so, his partner (Armen) caught 2 yellowfin tuna. Avo was going to release the sail, but it came in dead having been dragged backwards. It was donated to the pueblo. Note the solid size of the yellowfin tuna! They’re only about 200 yards off the beach.
PHOTO 2: Here’s another great story. Dan Fink from northern California has been coming to Baja for over a doezen years trying to catch a wahoo. He brought his sister, Julie with him this year. They weren’t even at the wahoo grounds (which haven not produced in about a month!). They were in the middle of the tuna bite. Mary was fishing a little sardine on light line (with NO wire!). She gets bit and wham…wahoo on! She hooks it right in the corner of the mouth with a little #2 live bait hook! It gets better. This was Mary’s first time fishing on the ocean. They also got a number of yellowfin tuna as well as pargo.
PHOTO 2: One of our most successful anglers each year, Steve Greanias and his dad, Chris, show off a couple of nice yellowfin tuna and a handful of dorado. Steve also had on a big roosterfish that he fought and came unbuttoned.
PHOTO 3: Johnny Doumas holds up a sample of the nice grade of yellowfin tuna we have biting now out of Muertos Bay with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. The fish are ranging from 15-35 pounds and are from the lighthouse down towards Cardonal. Live and dead sardines fished with a small hook and flurocarbon leaders are a plus.
PHOTO 4: Dorado are biting right now, but not many of the big bulls we’re accustomed to this time of year. However, Fred Roupp, Jr. and Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet pose with a 33-pound dorado they caught north of La Paz. This was our largest dorado of the week.
PHOTO 5: With Muertos Bay shimmering in the background, Captain Pancho with Jay Sanchez and Leon Sipplian on their first trip to fish with us hold up a handful of fat yellowfin tuna.
PHOTO 6: Two of the funnest guys who show up each year, Toros and Robert Marganian took time off from their plumbing business to pull on a few nice yellowfin tuna this week. The smaller sardines are working well on these fish. They were lockjawed early in the week when the winds were blowing, but came on stronger as the week went on.
PHOTO 7: All smiles, Johnny Wong and Tim Armstrong from Pasadena CA fished earlier in the week with us when we were still launching off Las Arenas Beach. Nice handful of YFT. They were fishing with Captain Victor.
PHOTO 8: Dr. Bruce Dodge from La Canada CA hit full limits of yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Jorge and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Cerralvo Island and Ventana Bay in the background. Bruce organized the annual Catholic Big Brothers & Big Sisters Charity Event and fund raiser with us and 3 days of fishing.
PHOTO 9: Sneaking away from his last year at Humboldt State College to get in some fishing, Andrew Campbell and mom Kirsten from Boise ID braved some strong winds and rain and still put some excellent fish in the panga. In addition to yellowfin tuna they also caught dorado over a quick weekend of fishing before Andy had to scoot back to class.
PHOTO 10: Dan Rubendall came down with the big group from Catholic Big Brothers and Big Sisters charity event and tournament and almost got big fish of the day with this bull dorado he caught in the channel between the Arenas lighthouse and Cerralvo Island.
PHOTO 11: You gotta love the unconventional. Rob Pinkerton and Mike Delaney pose with their catch of yellowfin tuna while playing in the sand. Mike…thanks for that pole dance at our TAILHUNTER BAR! We have it on video!
PHOTO 12: They always do well. Manny Avila and Tony Avila holding some of their catch this week of tuna and dorado. Thanks for the “Venturi wine pourer” guys. It works great!
WINDY WEATHER AND SPOTTY FISHING FINALLY GIVE WAY TO SUNSHINE AND SOLID BITE…MAYBE BEST TUNA BITE OF THE YEAR!
There were times early in the week where I was really pretty nervous. That bad weather cell that came through last week and dumped a bunch of rain on us and wouldn’t go away without spitting out the occasional shower finally gave way to sunny skies. That was the good part. The bad part is that behind the storm we got several days of incredible north winds. It’s certainly NOT what we’re’ accustomed to this time of year. I mean…it was ROUGH! We actually had some folks queasy which is pretty rare! One day, the captains didn’t even want to go out and it delayed us getting out.
That’s not too good when you’re doing a lot of topwater fishing. I felt badly for our flyfishers and some of our light tackle guys.
On top of it, the fish got squirrelly too! It was a pick bite at best. Normally, we’re going full turbo in October.
Anyway, as the week went on the winds calmed and …SURPRISE…the bite got better. Dorado finally decided to wake up and join the party although we’re not seeing a lot of the big bulls of fall. Most of the fish are the smaller 5-20 pounders. They can be found pretty much anywhere right now, but a lot of guys (and gals) come down this time of year expecting the big horses and they just haven’t been very prevailant this year. Live baits, of course, work well, but stripped dead bonito really get ‘em going. One thing we did find…there’s another good use for the pesky needlefish!
One of our captains…Boli…with our La Paz Fleet got resourceful and started using long strips of the silvery needlefish and slow trolling it behind the panga. Within 5 minutes…HOOK UP!!! He’s been doing it all week and getting dorado. Best of all…the other needlefish don’t attack it. I guess there’s finally something they won’t eat!
Besides the dorado, the best part of the bite later in the week took place with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Because of the north winds we moved the fleet over to Muertos Bay. When the bite turned on, we got…well…look at the photos above! Tuna…wahoo…sailfish…as well as pargo, marlin…roosterfish…cabrilla…snapper…sierra…and others. Great variety! However, the tuna bite really want off-the charts! At times, you could see the tuna foaming if you were standing on the shore as the fish were really that close! Boiling 20-30 pound tuna blowing up on the baits and every rod in every panga double bendo! On one day, our pangas were back on the beach by 11 a.m. with the guys telling me that by 10:30 they had limits of tuna and could have gotten more. Hope this sticks around! Several nights we vacuum packed over 200 bags of fish for our anglers.
Weather has cooled tremendously. It’s great. After a season of 5 months of some of the hottest weather any of us can remember with almost every day over 100 degrees with roaring humidity, it’s now about 85…sunny…and really “Chamber of Commerce” weather! But keep an eye…possibly more rain on the way this week!
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
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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