That's My Story

PHOTO 1: Wahoo went on the chew again this week! South end of Cerralvo Island held most of the fish. Here’s one that chased down a Rapala pulled by Jeff Sakuda of Monterey Park CA. Captain Jorge shares the smiles.

PHOTO 2: Professional hunting dog trainer, Steve Artis from N. California looks pained, but he was pretty happy with this fat wahoo he got his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. That’s Captain Victor hiding behind him.

PHOTO 3: Again with Captain Jorge! This time assisting Shannon Aurand from the San Francisco Bay area with her first wahoo she pulled on the troll. The fish showed a definite affinity for dark Rapalas this week.

PHOTO 4: All the way from New York, this is Arie Hendeles. Arie took a break from school like he does each summer to fish with us. This is one of several wahoo he put on the boat.

PHOTO 5: Yes, the yellowfin tuna also bit and they also got bigger too! Rod’s yellowfin was taken just off Las Arenas. The fish ranged from 10-30 pounds this week and crashed the live baits.

PHOTO 6: Bill White from San Luis Obispo is a fireman and he had sashime and sushi in mind for dinner as he holds up two of his yellowfin tuna he got fishing with our Las Arenas fishing fleet.

PHOTO 7: “Three Chicas and a Pancho!” Captain Pancho poses with Roseanne Ishihiro from Hawaii; Marianne Sugawara from Los Angeles and Karen Sakuda-Aizawa from San Franciso and their catch of dorado.

PHOTO 8: George is all smiles holding a bull dorado that might be our largest dorado of the week. George caugth this fish while fishing with Captain Victor and our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet. The fish fell for a live sardine.

PHOTO 9: Los Angeles resident Moise Hendeles got a cooler full of tuna fillets and added some great wahoo steaks to the catch with this fish.

PHOTO 10: First-timer, Ian Colbert from Belmont CA near San Franciso had a great first outting while fishing with us this past week. Here, he shows off a nice dorado he caught north of La Paz with our La Paz Tailhunter fleet.

PHOTO 11: Dave Tyree pulled this whopper dorado fishing on one of our super pangas with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet out of La Paz Bay. The dorado were hit or miss some days, but if you found the right spot, it could go nuts.

PHOTO 12: One of the most amazing action photos I’ve seen. If you’ve ever tried to take a shot of a leaping fish, you know how hard it is. Your eye, your brain, your finger and your camera just don’t work fast enough! Well, Steve Artis had everything lined up perfectly for this shot of a big bull dorado going ballistic and grabbing air while on the hook!

PHOTO 13: Not a bad day! Arie Hendeles from New York; Eli Hendeles and Jonathan Uretsky from Los Angeles do the group pose with wahoo and dorado. They had a banner few days with us taking wahoo, tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 14: Double fist tuna for Tom Aurand after fishing a day with our Las Arenas fleet. Tom comes from the San Francisco area and got into a nice snap of yellowfin tuna early in the week off the Arenas lighthouse area.

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA LEAD THE CHARGE AT LAS ARENAS WHILE DORADO KEEP LA PAZ ANGLERS BUSY (MOST DAYS).

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 16-24, 2009

Finally back on track after a little glitch the previous week. Not only did the dorado find their way back into the feeding mode, but even more importantly for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, the tuna and wahoo came back strong! Yellowfin tuna running 10-30 pounds bit nicely just off the beach inhaling live baits, dead chummed bait and iron. Light tackle anglers had a blast because the tuna were mixed in with even harder-charging bullish bonito and big skipjack so it was non-stop action between the 3 species. Limits were very common.

As well, and even more exciting, the wahoo made a strong comeback at the south end of Cerralvo Island along the rock highway. Two to four biters per boat were the average if you were pulling a big dark crank bait or wahoo rig. Quite a few fish were lost with bad hooksets and busted lines but boats were taking 1-2 wahoo in the 30-50 pound class.

Other species this week included a few marlin (released), roosterfish (most released) as well as some cabrilla, pargo and a nice jag of large pompano. Dorado ran 10-30 pounds on the average.

There were some slow spots and if you fished a few days you might have an off-day, but overall, it was a real good week of fishing with some anglers canceling (bad for us!) some of their trips later in the week because they had too much fish to take home after 2 or 3 days fishing! Glad to see guys releasing more and more fish and also more guys going to circle hooks as well. It wasn’t wide open, but the opportunities are there for some great catches right now.

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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AYE DIOS! HELP ME UNDERSTAND!

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the Week of Aug. 25, 2009

Every now and then, I pull out the Mexican fishing regulations. It’s a good thing to read over now and again. Every time I read it I find other things that make me shake and scratch my head.

Like so many laws here in Mexico, even giving the legislators the benefit of the doubt, I just don’t get it. Who’s writing the laws and/or what planet/country/ ocean are these laws applied to?

I won’t go over the whole list. I already know I’m going to get e-mails and calls, but check out some of the little “points” where you can get busted if the regulations are interpreted and enforced as they are written.

They are as archaic and nutty as some of those laws still in the books in the U.S. like the ones that say it’s “prohibited to ride a horse on Mainstreet on Sunday” or “eating ice cream in public on weeknights is illegal.” You get the idea. Check out a few gems I found in the Mexican fishing regs:

• “Each fisherman is permitted to use a single rod and reel or a single line with a hook, bait or lure…It is prohibited to have the simultaneous operation of more than one fishing rod.”

As I read that and as it has been enforced of late in some areas of the Baja, that means ONE rod in use per person. So, trolling 4, 5, 6 or more rods on a cruiser with short lines, long lines, riggers, etc. is prohibited. One means ONE!

• Did you know that “Live bait chumming is not allowed except when authorized during fishing tournaments.”

Whoa! Everyone reading this who has fished the Baja, a long range boat, a charter boat or panga who has NEVER used live bait to chum, raise your hand! I thought so.

It’s a common practice. It’s like that old saying among divers who pee in wetsuits. “Sixty percent do it and the other 40 percent are liars!” Don’t act shocked. Yes, we’ve all chummed with live bait!

• “Live bait may be used only for the FIRST TWO specimens captured each day. After that, bait must be dead, either fresh or unfrozen.”

Hehehehe…Of course! After the first two fish are caught, we shut off the aerators in the bait tanks and let the sardines, caballitos and mackerel die. Yessiree, Senor. Just paid 20 bucks for that load of bait. Love seeing them just float upside down in the bait tank.

• “For the capture of deep sea fish or live bait…the use of 3 prong hooks is prohibited.”

Think about that. Surely, they can’t mean your throwing iron? Or your Rapalas, Yo-zuris, Megabaits, etc. Say it ain’t so! What about squid jigs? Those have a set of mean prongs. But maybe squid aren’t considered “deep sea fish”. But some folks do consider them bait. Frankly, I consider them calamari salad. Or breaded and fried!

• “The weight of a line must NOT exceed 130lb (test).”

Has anyone told all the anglers fishing in the big upcoming tournaments like the Bisbees and WON Tuna that their leaders can’t exceed 130 lb. test?

Oh-oh…dangit, now we all have to re-rig our lures and leaders! And remember, only ONE rod per angler at a time. No multiple trolling rods out there! By the way, it’s also prohibited to derive any “economic benefit” from any sport caught fish. So, there goes those big money prize packages too! But if you win an outboard motor, isn’t that an economic benefit?

I’m not trying to make light of the legislation. However, I am trying to point out that some of the regs are simply unrealistic or unenforceable. As written, it encourages either disregard for the law as we openly sneak around. Conversely, it encourages the Mexican government to wink and look sideways when it behooves them NOT to enforce the laws as they are written or simply promotes uneven enforcement. That just confuses EVERYONE!

Nothing worse than laws that can’t be enforced, understood or not applied uniformly.

Jonathan Roldan is the Baja Editor for Western Outdoor News and his column appears every other week. He can be reached in La Paz at: riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

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PHOTO 1: Perhaps one of the largest dorado of the season, Captain Chito helps Steve McWhorter of Ventura with the big fish taken north of La Paz. Steve is 6′ tall and you can see that this fish is about that long. Captain Chito estimated the fish at about 60 pounds and was amazingly taken after a long battle on light tackle by Steve.

PHOTO 2: John Seidensticker of Huntington Beach CA fished with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and pulled in this nice bull dorado. The dorado bite at Las Arenas slowed this past week but tuna and wahoo picked up the slack.

PHOTO 3: Whittier CA resident Alan Cutler poses with another nice La Paz dorado he got north of town of Espiritu Santo Island. Live bait worked well this week, but many of this week’s larger fish were taken with strips of dead bonito.

PHOTO 4: It might not be the biggest fish picture, but it’s certainly my favorite of the week. Rebecca Waverly from Ventura CA was with us for the first time on her first fishing trip and fished with Captain Ramiro. The sheer exhuberance captured in this photo is priceless. We sometimes get so “hardcore” about our fishing we forget it’s supposed to be fun. Good job, Rebecca!

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA CRASH THE BOATS UNTIL SPEARFISHERMEN JUMP IN WATER AND SHUT OFF THE BITE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 9-15, 2009

We had a really nice wahoo and yellowfin tuna bite going on for our Las Arenas fleet the last few days the earlier half of the week. Guys were getting 2-5 bites on the skinnies per day and putting 1-2 in the boat. The wahoo ran up to about 50 pounds and were eating the big crank baits like Yozuri and Rapalas in the darker colors. As well, the yellowfin tuna popped up as well not far off the point. These were a fun grade of fish going 10-25 pounds.

All was good until freediving spearfishers dropped into the middle of the bites while the pangas were trying to fish. Incredible. Well, I do believe it and spearfishers wonder why they get such a bad rap here and get stinkeye from local captains…both commercial and sport captains and there has been open antagonism in the past and confrontations. Local commercial guys are trying to catch a few fish to feed their families. Panga captains are out there trying to put a few fish on the pangas for their clients.

A few jerk spearfishers screw it up for everyone and basically, they shut off the bite. It taints all spearfishers who show up. Word has it that some of them were using illegal gas-powered guns as well instead of the normal band guns. Nothing like little explosions underwater to put the lockjaw on the fish!

Additionally, they didn’t heed requests to go find other spots. The ocean is big. No reason to drop right in the middle of guys trying to make a living. Anyway, that surely screwed up the bite and hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

After that, the pickings the rest of the week were marginal at best with fishermen chasing a few dorado, a few tuna and inshore species like roosterfish, pargo and cabrilla. Like I said, hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

The dorado are still biting, however, for our La Paz boats. The bite has been pretty far-ranging from the outer banks all the way down the channel around Las Cruces. You might find a big school that makes your day or dink or single and double biters all day long, but limits or near limits were not uncommon for our boats. Live bait worked best, but catching a few bonito then using dead slabs on the troll drew fish to the boat.

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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PHOTO 1: Leave it to the rookie to roll the big one! Just an incredible fish by Juan Martinez from Northern CA who made his first trip fishing to La Paz at the last minute and nailed this huge bull dorado near Espiritu Santo Island. Again, this week, dorado were the hot ticket.

PHOTO 2: One of our bestest amigos, this is “Coach” Don Rea who fishes with us several times a year. Every trip he fishes his brains out but never gets in the report. He always fishes with his favorite captain Marcos who’s helping him hold up the beast dorado. Coach took this fish on light tackle with a little Avet SX and fought the fish over an hour and admitted the fish slugged it out with him. Well, he finally made the report. Congrats, Coach!

PHOTO 3: Here’s another guy who worked like crazy for his fish. Rich Jones is an experienced long-range angler from Utah who came “just to get ONE roosterfish!” Well, over his first 3 days of fishing he put “60-70” roosterfish on light tackle and had a ball and finally nailed this beauty saying, “We saw it come into the shallow water after my ladyfish and it ripped into deep water!” Best of all…Rich released all his fish. He also caught dorado, snapper, cabrilla, and jack crevalle. By the way, knowing what this looks like, he wanted it known that he does NOT fish with a blue bonnet on his head. His boonie hat had the brim tilted back!

PHOTO 4: Tom Moon from Northridge CA put in a day with Captain Adolfo fishing off S. Cerralvo Island and put this mahi mahi in the panga while fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 5: Ron Hepner put the gaff to a number of dorado and other species while fishing 5 days with both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet this past week. He released all his roosterfish, but this dorado went into the box and onto the dinner table! Ron came to visit us from Utah in the Salt Lake area.

PHOTO 6: Coach Joey Fuschetti is high school track coach from Orange Co. CA who does lots of work with putting kids on fishing trips. He took some time out do some fishing of his own and comes to see us each year. Fishing with our La Paz Fleet, Joey got this dorado near Espiritu Santo Island. “We were w/ limits both days at Las Arenas w/ our famous capitan Jorge and the high boat out of La Paz w/ Capitan Boli. But, reality check on day three when the Pargo took us for a ride at Isla Partida and we landed 3 and lost a bunch of big toothed beasts to the rocks………” said Joey. Joey insists that chumming the waters with minced papaya is his secret to success.

PHOTO 7 – It’s always nice to know that someone caught their personal best fish when on one of our trips. George Higi has fished Baja for years, but got his personal best dorado fishing with Captain Jorge and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. George stands 6’2″ so this fish is the real deal!

PHOTO 8: Kodak moment with dorado, left-right, Bob Wood, Tom Moon, Tony Toven and Doyle Wood holding some of their day’s catch fishing north of La Paz with our La Paz fleet.

WEEK STARTS SLOW AND SCRATCHY BUT GETS BETTER AS MOON GOT FULLER!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of 2-9, 2009

It was a difficult week to put a finger on. In some respects, it was scratchy fishing as water temps seemed to have dropped and fish scattered. Let me put it this way, often you had to work hard for your fish! This was especially true for our Las Arenas Fleet. While there was a mix of fish that includes dorado, some billfish and a smattering of tuna, the “offshore bite” really wasn’t happening. Those anglers that worked inshore however, took advantage of some great fishing for roosters, pargo, jacks, cabrilla and snapper. In fact, they had an excellent time, especially on light tackle.

For our La Paz fleet, the bite was much more consistent. While there wasn’t much variety, the dorado more than made up for anything else School-sized fish in the 10-20 pound class made up most of the catch, but there were some monster 40-60 pound fish caught and many more lost to bad gear, busted lines or inexperience or simply bad luck. You might have a bad day here or there, but for the most part, limits or near limits of fish with many released were the rule more than the exception.

LATE breaking news…as the week went on and the moon got fuller…THE BITE GOT BETTER. Tuna and dorado started showing up again at Las Arenas and the La Paz dorado bite got more consistent!

JACK VELEZ FUND

Thank you to many of you who have been sending condolences, prayers and checks to the family. We have already raised several thousand dollars and will be making a surprise presentation to them in a few weeks. In advance of their appreciation, thanks from all of us with the Tailhunter Family. Please write if you’d like more information.

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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PHOTO: If you want big fish, you have to go the extra mile and put in the extra time. Cole Chavira is 11 -years-old, but consistenly nails big fish here in La Paz.

SWINGING FOR THE FENCHES

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the Week of Aug. 11, 2009

To use sports parlance, “swinging for the fence” means taking the big swing for the home run hit…going for the big one…the game winner. Forget the little dinks to the infield. You may strike out more taking the big swing, but then when you pop it into the bleachers, you’re the hero.

It works that way in fishing. There always seems to be the one or two guys in the group or on the boat who forego filling their sacks or their ice chests with filets just for the sake of filets. They want the jackpot fish. They want bragging rights. Quality over quantity. Anyone can catch 10-pound dinks. They want the big toad.

This is the guy you often see at the bow of the sportfisher tirelessly throwing iron while everyone hoots and hollers in the stern getting bent on smaller fish. This is the guy who looks carefully at every bait or ties on the heavy leader and bigger gear and doesn’t worry that he’s not bit on every drop.

Two rules of thumb:

1. There are fewer bigger fish than smaller fish. They’re the top of the food chain. They’re big for a reason. They’re smarter, stronger, faster. If all fish were big anyone could catch them.
2. Big fish…big bait. Any fish could wrap it’s maw around a 5 inch sardine. It takes a big fish to wrap it choppers around a 5 pound bonito! So use bigger baits and lures!

OK, once you’ve resolved that you probably will NOT catch as many fish as your
partners since you’re going for Big Mo’, you’ll get past Rule #1. Grit your teeth and smile as your friends rib you while they catch all the little guys. Big fish are their own reward!

For Rule #2, again grit your teeth. Create your own luck by putting in some extra time. That means using the larger lures or jigs. It means longer trolling or throwing time and really working hard at it. It means keeping your eyes open for that ONE BIG FISH! Remember, you’re not after quantity…you want quality.

If you’re fishing with live bait or natural baits, again, put in the time. When everyone else is loading on sardines, go catch some mackerel or caballitos (little jacks). If you’re chasing roosterfish, they love the larger ladyfish. Go catch those first. Imagine something that can swallow an 18-inch live bait!

The pargo and bigger snapper like having a smaller barracuda or needlefish (yes, there’s a use for those pesky needlefish) I personally like cutting off one of the tail fins and then making light scores with a sharp knife along the flanks of the bait (for scent and blood). It makes the bait swim erratically.

If it’s larger billfish you’re after, go fish for the small tuna or skipjack/bonito first. Use the small baits to catch the bonito or skippies or, alternatively, drag some small hoochies or bonito feathers off the transom to catch the larger baits. When everyone is peeling out with their anchovies or sardines to the fishing grounds, you’re putting in the extra time to get some of the larger baits. It pays off.

If you’re using dead baits, again, use the larger stuff. Big slabs of bonito or similar fish dropped down deep will entice the grouper, big dog tooth and cabrilla. Belly strips of dorado, bonito, tuna or even squid tacked onto the hook inside your feather or larger lure adds scent and something to bite down on and not let go!

Even if larger dorado are the quarry, large strips of slow-trolled bonito slabs on a swiveled leader will produce fish when other methods come up empty!

You may get lots of swings and misses. But when you connect… run the diamond slowly and pump your fist. Touch all the bases and be the hero!

That’s my story. If you ever need to reach me here in Mexico, I”m at:

riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

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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

LA PAZ/ LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR WEEK OF JULY 26 – AUG. 2, 2009

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.

JACK VELEZ

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

I’ll give you more details rather than take up the fishing report. To those of you who have already written, God bless. Your thoughts and prayers have been appreciated.

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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PHOTO: Dining is an event in Mexico. A little slower. A little less rushed…

OBSERVATIONS FROM TABLESIDE

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of July 28, 2009

I’ve been here now in Baja for about 15 years. It’s been a wonderful diversion of a career from what I thought I’d be doing at this point in my life. It’s funny how life takes funny turns. Will I be here in 15 more years? Quien sabe? But I’ll enjoy the ride for now.

The longer I’m here, the more I understand and don’t understand about Mexico and it’s wonderful culture and people. It would be wrong to say things are “wrong” or “stupid” just because I come from a different perspective.

When one comes from somewhere else, it’s important to remember that I’m still a guest here and just because folks don’t do things the way I would like or am used to, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I think many Americans are used to “our way” (which is not always correct to begin with) and hence impose “our way” on everyone else!

Let’s just say there are things I am learning that are “curious” and make me grin, smile or scratch my thinning hairline…especially about dining observations now that we have a bar and restaurant.

For instance, I recently found out why it’s rare to find carnitas taco (pork) stands at night and why more fish taco stands are found in the daytime. As one amigo explained to me, Mexicans think eating pork at night will make them fat. Probably true, but so will a giant plate of cheese and bean-covered nachos! Or nieve (ice cream). Or quesadillas too! Never stopped anyone from what I can see.

The reason there are more fish and seafood taco stands open in the day time is simple pragmatics. Most street vendors don’t have electricity so other than using ice, there’s no way to keep the seafood fresh. Plus the fresh seafood comes from the markets in the day time.
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Slice of lime in your beer? Another curiosity. It’s a gringo thing. Locals laugh at it. It’s the result of a certain beer company’s advertising campaign.

Same with tequila chased with lime and salt. Too many movies! Wanna drink like a local in front of locals? Toss the lime away and down it straight up! Salud! (Cheers!)

Speaking of food…”Where the rice?” “What, no beans?” “I want to go to a REAL Mexican restaurant.” I hear this all the time.

It’s a bit like going to China and looking for a “real Chinese restaurant.” Real is a relative word usually colored by your perceptions of your “real Mexican restaurants” back home. Often, it’s some chain restaurant made to look like an old ranch or adobe.

Hence, when you come down to “REAL Mexico,” don’t expect chips to magically appear on your table until you eat yourself full. If you ask, you MIGHT get a cereal-bowl size portion of chips. Anything more and you’ll probably get charged.

Rice and beans are usually not found on the combo #2 plate either. If they have them, order them separately. You’ll usually find these things included only in gringo-fied restaurants attached to tourist eateries in hotels or in tourist areas.

In fact, at most restaurants, they have a specialty. If it’s a seafood restaurant, don’t be the odd one out at the table wanting steak. They probably won’t have it or it’s been sitting in the freezer for awhile. Likewise, a carne asada eatery probably won’t have shrimp either!

While I’m on restaurants, ever notice that you really have to ASK for the bill when you’re done eating? Feeling ignored?

Americans eat early and run…gotta go! We eat and when we’re done…we’re done!

In Mexico, Mexicans generally eat later. Local restaurants fill at 9, 10 and 11 p.m. They eat leisurely. They drink coffee and after-dinner drinks. And they linger and talk. That’s Mexico-style. A carry-over from more gentile times or the Spanish/European manner of dining. Don’t’ rush me!

Once you’re done, you’re not. The waiter will keep an eye, but generally just leave you alone. It’s not rude. It’s Mexico!

That’s my story…
Jontahan

Jonathon Roldan is the Baja Editorfor Western Outdoor News and his column appears every other week. He can be reached in La Paz at: riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

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PHOTO 1: Hector Chacon, our good amigo, is on the right. He’s holding his dorado. “One of the most incredible bites I’ve ever had. They were everywhere!” On the left…some guys will go to any length to make sure their boss doesn’t know they went fishing. “Mr. Modelo” also holds up a dorado! (Nice Mask, Dave!)

PHOTO 2: Steve Kechichian from S.California just finished his freshman year in high school and made his first trip down to us. In addition to roosterfish, he also got this nice yellowfin tuna his first day out on light spinning gear.

PHOTO 3: Dave Rose from Denver caught the fish, but Captain Armando does the honors. Check out the size of this big pompano caught off Las Arenas! The pompano came back this week and were feeding near the drop offs near the beaches.

PHOTO 4: Bruce Husson and Rick Carlton show off a pair of their La Paz dorado they caught north of town. The dorado schools continued to park themselves out in the channel this past week. The guys are from the San Diego area.

PHOTO 5: The Kellogg boys showed that there were still some yellowfin tuna off Las Arenas this past week. They weren’t as fast and furious as previous weeks, but the footballs were still in the area!

PHOTO 6: Ron Wesp and Bonnie Buiniak from Arizona were way fun on their first trip with us. Their first day they picked up some dorado and tuna. Their second day, they did much better on dorado.

PHOTO 7: Our amiga, Andrea Wood from Orange Co. She loves the pool but gets out on the water every other day or so and always does well. She holds up a big bull she slammed north of town.

DARK MOON (OR SOMETHING) PUTS A DAMPER ON LAS ARENAS TUNA/ WAHOO BITE BUT DORADO AROUND LA PAZ SAVE THE DAY FOR ANGLERS

La Paz/ Las Arnas Fishing Report for July 19-25, 2009

Well…so much for the “dark moon” stuff. Fishing actually took a hit this week. That big bite we’ve had over a month at Las Arenas with tuna, wahoo, dorado and billfish fizzled to scratch fishing. Given that I could see very little change in wind, water or weather, I don’t know what happened. Of course since MOST anglers like to fish the dark of the moon, there were some disappointments because we were pretty full all week.

Personally, I never believe in that stuff. You fish when you fish. It’s not that the fishing was terrible. It’s that it wasn’t as stellar as it had been previously. Also, when the fishing gets picky, you’d better have your game on. If you miss fish after fish, it’s not the captains fault that your ice chest isn’t as full as you want. Your opportunities are more limited. The smarter fishermen abandoned the off-shore species and went inshore and still had a blast with roosterfish, pompano and cabrilla. Fish for what’s there!

The better fishing was with our La Paz fleet that did continue to jump all over the dorado, but for sure, it seemed like there were fewer large bull dorado. The dorado on La Paz saved quite a few trips and It was pretty hard not to get bit. Fish remained in numerous places. It seemed like the smaller schoolie fish were in the channel between the islands. Larger bulls were on the high spots. So…if you wanted action and quantity you went to the channels and looked for patches of weeds or working birds or…you simply looked for a big pile up of boats! If you wanted the larger fish you buckled your chin strap and you went out trolling and hunting a bit further out.

Bottom line…everyone got fish! Any other week, this would have been a pretty darned good week of fishing. It was just that the fishing had been so off-the-charts the last few weeks that we got spoiled! I”m sure it’ll turn around. There were still plenty of dorado!

WEEKS VIDEO

I don’t have any fishing video clips this week. My video camera conked out on me. However, folks have been asking for video of the new FUBAR/TAILHUNTER BAR. We had some big parties this past week so I thought I’d pass some of that one. Click the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfuxTHe8HKo

Have a great week!
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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PHOTO 1: No stranger to these fishing reports, Cole Chavira (11) poses with a nice dorado and sisters Monica (20) and Gabi (18). They’re from the San Diego area and Cole always nails big fish down here. Dorado were once again the backbone of the catch this past week typical of July fishing.

PHOTO 2: This is another photo that’s suitable for framing! Love having dads and kids down. Wally Lee took time out from Wells Fargo board meetings to bring the family and took youngster Aiden out to pull on some dorado. The young man did just fine! They fished north of La Paz and got this on live bait.

PHOTO 3: Some people come down to Baja their whole lifetimes hoping to get a sniff from a wahoo. Casey Barber got one her first day out fishing with our Las Arenas fleet. (See her on the video clip). She was pretty excited. The fish scaled at 34 pounds. Early in the week, the wahoo were crashing the boats.

PHOTO 4: Sometimes I think Mitch Chavira has a professional photographer follow him and his family out when they go fishing. They ALWAYS get great shots…and outstanding fishing! Mitch comes down several times a year and holds up a big bull dorado he caught out’ve La Paz.

PHOTO 5: Another week of football tuna! The bite tapered later in the week, but earlier…the fish were blasting just off the point at Punta Arenas. Greg Jones from Bakersfield pulled a couple like this out using live bait.

PHOTO 6: Big headed bull dorado! George Simpson (holding the tail) fished with us for the first time this past week but got tuna, wahoo and dorado like this one. He’s aided by Captain Jorge and son Damon. He was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

PHOTO 7: Dorado were our bread-and-butter-fish this week which is more typical of a summer bite. Tony Adamich on the left with Gary Skul from Colorado and John Mramor from Atlanta after a day of fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

PHOTO 8: Hardcore! This is Romie Gonzalez. He loves his sushi and sashime. Someoen passed him a piece of sailfish to take home and he immediately took a bite! Can’t argue with the freshness! But I like mine chilled with soy and wasabi!

PHOTO 9: Our good buddy, Barry Wood, went out with Captain Chito out of La Paz and hooked this awesome dorado on bait. Daughter, Andrea, helps out. They’re both from Orange Co, CA.

PHOTO 10: Three of our favorite guys…Steve Herron and his boys Jackson and Austin…all hailing from Park City UT, got quite a haul of fish over 4 days. Here they show off yellowfin tuna as well as Austin’s wahoo. caught with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 11 – We could not have asked for a funner lady to be fishing. Di Rosas was so excited about cathing this yellowtail…about 25 pounds…that she was almost dancing on the beach. It was her first fish! Very strange to get yellowtail this time of the year as they’re usually caught in the spring, not the sweltering heat of summer, but several fish in the 20-45 pound class were hooked this past week.

BIG VARIETY OF PELAGIC SPECIES INCLUDING DORADO- WAHOO- BILLFISH AND TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of July 11-18, 2009

Just another super week of fishing here. The last 2 or 3 weeks have been unseasonably great. Maybe it’s the fact that the waters or air temperature are hotter than normal, because it’s over 100 every day. Waters are a good 5 degrees hotter than normal and it sure is muggy, but the fishing has been good to spectacular. Normally, mid-summer, we’re locked into dorado. Nothing wrong with that. Dorado are our bread-and-butter fish here in La Paz for a good part of the year. However, school-sized dorado are the norm about now…5 to 20 pound fish.

Well, at least for a month, sure, we’ve got the punks, but also, big bulls are solidly here as well. Fish in the 30-50 pound class have been smoking drags for weeks! But, the best surprise is the other species that have been pounding our two fleets. Football-sized yellowfin tuna in the 10-20 pound class showed up about 2 weeks ago just off the shore near Las Arenas and it’s been an easy run (swim?) to the spot and limits have been the rule rather than the exception. On top of it, wahoo charged into the foray about a week ago also where the pangas were getting 2-4 hookups per day (notice I didn’t say they were “catching” that many as many fish were lost!), but it’s made for some exciting fishing to have free swimming wahoo around the boat willing to bite bait, lures and trolled Rapalas and Marauder and Yo Zuris. (THE CD-18 size..if you’re wondering…if you use the small ones, they’ll swallow them and BLINK…you’re cut off!)

Fishing did slow a bit at the end of the week as we got some weather patterns overhead and the barometric pressure changed, but overall, it just seemed like they were glitches and anomalies. If the tuna didn’t bite, then the dorado bit and vise-versa. Hard for anyone to complain! Overall, just some good solid fishing!

Additionally, we’ve still got roosterfish in the shallows and striped, blue, and black marlin cruising the areas eating the smaller tuna and dorado as well as into the bait schools. Not many sails this year, but we get a few hookups a week. Kudos to all the guys releasing their billfish!

Oh…and surprise…BIG yellowtail showed up as well…way out of season. These fish must have been lost, but off Las Arenas we caught several fish in the 20-40 pound class!

That’s our story! We have a full week of fishermen here…we’re loaded so we’ll have some full reports for you coming up!

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Click this for this week’s video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNrsCdwWe3Q

Turn up the volume!

Cheers!
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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PHOTO 1: Ricardo Garcia…El Jefe for the La Paz Board of Tourism and a good amigo loves to fish and got into some of the excellent wahoo fishing which is the best we’ve seen in ages here with multiple wahoo hook-ups each day. The fish are eating bombs, trolled lures and even snapping live bait!

PHOTO 2: “Yea Baby!” That’s what Rene Renteria yelled out when he hit the beach with this fat stuffy wahoo. The angle the fish is held makes it look shorter than it is. This was a THICK fish! That had is sashime the fish at the FUBAR TAILHUNTER CANTINA that night!

PHOTO 3: Chris Ortiz poses with a bull dorado he pulled off between Cerralvo Island and Las Arenas point. The fish ate live bait and still has it’s fresh colors on it. Chris had a pretty good outing with a solid cooler of dorado fillets. This was it seemed like the dorado got tired of being pushed out’ve the spotlight by the tuna bite!

PHOTO 4: Ed Basurto from the Sacramento CA area said this fish “worked me!” The 40 pound class bull dorado was one of a number of big bulls caught this week.

PHOTO 5: Bakersfield CA vistors Greg Jones and Jo Marie Corbell fished with us for the first time and dog-piled on the fish. He shows off a few of his dorado, but also got into tuna and at one time had on a sailfish and wahoo on at the same time!

PHOTO 6: Once again for the 3rd straight week, the tuna charged the boats. This pair is held up by Dan and Josh Moore who also hung a nice wahoo. These yellowfin tuna varied from 10 pound footballs to 25 pound plugs.

PHOTO 7: One of our favorite amigos, Jorge Romero, has a knack on the wahoo. A few weeks ago, he got 5 wahoo in two hours. This week he got 3 wahoo and lost 5 Rapalas in the process. Here he does the man-up pose with a big skinny he took off the South End of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 8 : Mark and Ben Driver from Portland OR showed up right in the middle of the tuna bite and spanked fish big time over several days of fishing. Here, they hold up 4 yellowfin they hung while fishing north out’ve La Paz. According to their Captain Chito, they were trolling for dorado when all the rods went off and suddenly swarms of yellowfin foamed around the boat when they threw bait!

FISHING RODEO AS WAHOO JOIN THE FRAY WITH TUNA AND BIG DORADO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of July 5-11, 2009

I’m not sure where to start!!! I usually try to “understate” the fishing to some degree. I mean…fishing just CAN’T be good ALL THE TIME, right?

Well, just when I thought it couldn’t get better…IT DID! First we had a killer dorado bite going on that seemed off the charts. Then about 2 ½ weeks ago the tuna exploded in a surprising bite that covered waters north of La Paz…around Cerralvo Island…and several points south…such that anglers were getting limits of tuna in an hour or two of fishing!

Then, this week…WAHOOOOOOooooooooo!!!! What can I say. Guys fishing tuna on live bait were suddenly getting chomped by free-swimming wahoo. Zing-powie! Then guys started throwing bombs and trolling Rapalas and other lures and the wahoo went nuts! Guys would get bit several times…lose a few and get one or two to the boat! Several boats took 2, 3, 4 wahoo each. These fish went 25-50 pounds in a bite like I can’t remember! These fish were not picky. They loved the trolled lures, but for once did not seem picky about the colors…purple/black…green mackerel…blue mackerel…fire tiger…bright orange…all got hit! Just check out the photos and I’d have posted up even more photos, but just did not have enough space!

Will it continue? I have no idea!

But what a bite. On two occasions, I heard clients tell me they got into dorado so thick that two fish actually jumped in the boat (not kidding…I saw the fish!) One hit a guy in the back while he was hooked up and the fish fell back in the water. We had some big roosterfish too. As for marlin and sailfish…we had several striped marlin and several sailfish caught and released. But Ryan Hershey from Colorado hooked a fish estimated to be 700 pounds (Captain’s estimate) that we have to give high-5’s to…HE RELEASED THE FISH! Good on you! Barry Wood from Orange Co, CA had on a 400 pounder that spooled them faster than the boat could catch up! Barry said, “When I saw it, I knew I wanted no part of it!”

Tell ya what…if it’s any indication, I’ve been vacuum sealing 100-200 bags of fish here at the TAILHUNTER/ FUBAR every afternoon and this does not include all the fish that the anglers are telling me they are releasing!

THE WEEK’S VIDEO CLIPS

I got the camera working again! Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, but here you go! Right off YOUTUBE! Just click the link to see this week’s video clips of the fish! Click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4RYQvOdIfQ

JACK IS BACK

Thanks to so many of you who kept tabs on our friend and Tailhunter family member with your e-mails and prayers. He is now back in La Paz after being in the U.S. for a month in the hospital. He’s not moving fast and is very weak but it’s good to see him again. He’ll be taking it easy for awhile as he tries to regain his strength.

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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